Fall
by Discoabc
Summary: It isn't the dance that makes them fall. It is everything that happens afterwards. A 100-Drabble Set based off the 100 writing prompt challenge by Sunshockk on dA. TsunaxOC
1. Dance

**Ayyyee, so I'm about to do some of my GCSEs and I wanted to do some writing but didn't want to do any of my other fics because** _ **plots ugh**_

 **So, whilst searching for some writing inspiration from tumblr, I found this 100 writing prompts challenge by Sunshockk on dA and I was sold haha**

 **Its a TsunaxOC because I miss writing a nice, lovely Tsuna and OCs are fun to write :) I've written about ten of these so far so I'll upload the rest soon.**

-Dance-

He's clumsy.

Honestly, it's awful really how uncoordinated a human he is. His limbs just don't seem to want to obey what his mind tells them to do, don't allow him to be the shining example of poise and grace he desperately wants to be.

It's only worse that his friends, Gokudera and Yamamoto, are practically exuding professionalism, partners held confidently by the hand as they slide effortlessly across the hall floor. Almost every girl swoons at this-especially the ones who have been paired up with the two. And he's stuck with his partner squawking again about his feet slamming onto theirs and muttering about being stuck with such a 'no good partner' whilst he stutters out apologies, red faced and hoping the school idol doesn't see all the horrible mistakes he's making.

He hates it, hates how he can beat down all his enemies and protect his friends with skill and confident movements but he can't make his feet step in a _simple sequence_ in time to the music almost entirely eclipsed by all the chatter from the students.

Again he steps awkwardly and stamps onto his partner's foot, apologies immediately flowing from his mouth but quieter this time from the shame of having said these same words a billion times over ( _I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry_ ).

He tries not to outwardly cringe too much at the girl's rapid flow of complaints laced with savage insults that chip a little at the resolve he's made not feign illness to get out of class. He wants to be better than that, better than what he was like once before, but it's so _difficult_ to stay so strong when all he hears and sees is him being a failure.

More glances from his friends make him wonder when they'll catch on to the lies in his reassuring smiles (he doesn't want them to worry, especially when they're doing so well). He himself decides to steal a glance at his crush ( _his hopeless, hopeless crush_ ) when his attention is stolen by two figures zipping around the hall.

The two are moving energetically, far more energetically to anyone else in the vicinity since this was a waltz they were meant to be dancing, wasn't it? Their legs look as though they're kicking at the air, at times almost at each other, and their bodies are spinning constantly. Surprisingly, it's the girl the looks as though she's leading the two, laughing breathlessly as her hair whips around in the air, the boy seeming to just be keeping up to her, huge grin etched onto his face.

It's mesmerising, the sheer amount of liveliness they're showing to the world as they dance completely off beat with movements that look so hopelessly crude in comparison to Yamamoto and Gokudera's perfectly timed steps. Crude and yet _impossibly_ more interesting.

His attention is forced back by his partner who is now snapping about how he's just stood still now and _i_ _f we're going to do this we're going to do it properly, do you hear-_ but the rapid squeaking of shoes right next to him now makes him turn just in time to see a body colliding with him. He's knocked away from his partner who squawks again and, before he can rejoin hands with her again, new fingers entwine with his, a large beam entering his vision.

The girl doesn't stop moving and he finds himself stumbling backwards, small noises of surprise leaving his mouth as he gapes at her fast moving feet, trying desperately to avoid being trodden on by her. He barely hears the boy that had been dancing with her before shout through his laughter for his partner to come back, too preoccupied with his clumsy dodging.

Suddenly, he almost crashes into two other dancing students but the girl tugs him towards her just in time. His eyes flick up to her's at this movement, wide and slightly horror filled at the predicament he is in, only to be met with her sparkling ones. She's still laughing breathlessly as she guides him across the hall with erratic movements. Her fingers slip from one of his hands and she twirls underneath his arm as he makes panicked noises, moving so fast he nearly collides with her. She then lifts her arm and twists it so he spins underneath her's too, nimble fingers making the turn not be painful to their hands.

He stumbles after the turn, tripping over his own feet but not being allowed to fall, her free hand returning to his and yanking him along with her. The tugs and yanks force him to keep his eyes on her face rather than their feet and, despite how terrifying and sudden this quick mess of a dance is, he finds himself understanding a little why she is taking so much joy in dancing this way.

The inevitable crash happens a few moments later when she leads him to spin with her uncontrollably, both of them knocking into another pair of whom were dancing the correct waltz. Their gym-turned-temporarily-dance teacher roars at them to stand outside and they stumble through the doors, the girl's laughter if anything louder than before. Faces red from the effort (and embarrassment in his case) are eclipsed by their shining eyes and she grins at him. Then, she curtsies.

" _Thank you_ for the dance, Sawada Tsunayoshi-sama." She speaks with an amused, teasing lilt to her voice.

He becomes flustered, hands waving around frantically as she laughs-it isn't like Kyoko's where it sounds like the tinkling of bells or like Bianchi's, low, controlled and somewhat sultry chuckles. It's warm, loud, uncontrolled, full of inexplicable _joy_ and it's impossible for him to not want to laugh too, only just stopping himself at a smile he attempts to hide behind his hand.

"T-thank you for the dance, Imada Kahiro-chan…"


	2. Treat

**This is set after the end of the series I think (didn't actually put too much thought into when oOPS)**

-Treat-

Tsuna sits with his head leant against his desk, arms placed so that they cover his face. Class is over but he's waiting for Yamamoto and Gokudera to finish explaining to their headteacher why the former has hit a stick of dynamite with a baseball bat into the pool.

(Once upon a time he'd be panicking horribly about the prospect of his small group of friends being made smaller through expulsion but Reborn never lets it get so far so now he instead prays that unreasonable deals involving him aren't made instead.)

The warmth inside the classroom makes him feel unbearably sleepy and he slides his eyes shut, hearing this yells of the sports clubs from outside drift through the window. As sleep starts to take him, the shouts began to slowly fade into nothingness and his body relaxed-

The sudden sound of the classroom door slamming open makes him jerk awake, chair tipping backwards and his arms flailing as he falls unceremoniously onto the floor. His elbow throbs with pain as he lies there for a few moments, disorientated. "Oh, are you okay?!" A hand enters his vision and he takes it without thinking, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

Embarrassment hits him once he's upright, face burning as he snatches his hand back. "T-thank you, Imada-chan…" He mumbles under the scorching heat of shame at having been caught falling off of his chair, not meeting the girl's eyes.

"Sorry for startling you!" She apologises, holding a sincere face for a few moments before she turns, her high ponytail swinging. She's wearing the sports uniform with the jacket having been scruffily rolled up her arms like the bottoms of her trousers up her legs. Considering how much she moved whilst dancing without getting tired, Tsuna decides it suits her well to be a sportswoman of some sort.

Kahiro walks quickly towards her desk, picking her forgotten bag up in one fluid movement. Tsuna rubs his elbow, half wanting to die of shame as he plucks his chair off the floor and buries his head underneath his arms once more.

Before he can even have a chance to fall asleep again, something is slapped against his hurting elbow and he springs upright, Kahiro squatting in front of his desk and leaning her arms against the wood. He immediately makes a noise akin to a squawk, very nearly falling again. She laughs, crumpling something in her hand. "Don't fall for me twice now, _Tsunayoshi_!"

Her teasing words reduce him into a flustered mess again, only serving to make her laugh harder as she stands, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She spins-he sees now why it was she danced so vibrantly as she uses such movements in her daily repertoire-and jogs out. There is a moment of stillness and then she's poking her head back around the door again, sticking out a hand and waving goodbye before disappearing.

Tsuna pauses, sighs and leans his head against the surface of his desk again, his hand brushing past his elbow and feeling the fabric of a plaster pressing against his skin. Granted, his elbow continues to sting, but the gesture of kindness on Kahiro's behalf makes him cease to mind as much about the pain.

The mortification of falling of his chair with an audience however...

 _How embarrassing…!_

(It is a mere five minutes later that his friends rush into the classroom and Tsuna finds himself startled and falling off his chair for a second time, the shame making him want to curl up into a ball and die.)


	3. Sand

**Ayye I really am addicted to writing these haha**

-Sand-

She's never been one to enjoy staying still.

Kahiro can endure it, of course, like she endures the long, slow hours sat at her desk, trying to focus on absorbing in all the information told to her. But she knows it's not where she belongs, not where she should be when there are so many other things she wants to do.

It's why she is the PE department's dream of a student-excluding when she's _meant_ to stay put in one place. Kahiro's always moving, always sprinting this way and that, driven by her constant need for movement and highly aware of her surroundings (how else was it that she'd managed to not crash into _everyone_ in that hall whilst dancing like a mad woman?).

It's also why she never manages to settle down in one club, too busy allowing herself be enamoured by a different sport and different activity to ever stick to one thing alone.

She's often chased down by club leaders and supervisors and given long lectures about how her infidelity causes such great headaches for them, especially when choosing the people for tournaments as they can never know whether she'll be willing to play for their team or not.

(Really, she's always willing to play for them if they ask but her club jumping has given her the slight image of a self-centered individual who abandons ship at a whim regardless of how necessary she is to the crew.)

However, Kahiro never does adhere to their wishes to pick one club and stick to it, which is why she's standing at a starting line rather than bouncing a basketball like she had done yesterday.

She breathes deeply before breaking into a sprint, counting down her steps as she runs. Her foot then finally slams into the board and she jumps, arms stretching out and pushing the air behind her so that she moves that little bit further. Her fingers splay out and she smiles, feeling the wind pass through them. Then, her brief flight comes to an end and her feet slam into the sand beneath her. The force of her landing makes the grains fly up into the air, leg's becoming unstable. She crashes onto her side, getting a face-full of sand by doing so.

Kahiro lies there for a moment, heart still thundering from the sprinting and head spinning a little. She then spies a moving figure out of the corner of her eye and raises her voice. "Could you tell me my distance?"

"Ah-um, me?" The person fumbles a little with their words, clearly not having expected to have been spoken to.

Kahiro rolls onto her back and blinks the sand out of her eyes, getting a better look of the student and recognizing him as Tsuna. "Nah, the person behind you." When the boy actually takes a moment to look both ways, she laughs and sits up, shaking her hair free of the sand. "Joking, joking!"

"Oh, yeah…" He rubs his neck sheepishly, embarrassed by his error.

There is a pause before Kahiro speaks again. "So, the distance if you would, Tsunayoshi."

"Oh, right!" He flusters a little, making her laugh again. Tsuna cringes a little at the noise even though there is no mocking lilt to it, it just being laughter because his reaction was funny to her. He's just so used to the sneering kind of amusement at his mistakes that it's become a sort of reflex to him. "4.23 metres…?" His answer is somewhat questioning, as though he is trying to figure out whether her distance is good or not.

"Bad landing." Kahiro sighs and shrugs, still smiling as she stands. "Thanks anyway!" She begins jogging back to the starting line, sand that was still clinging to her being thrown into the air. Some hits Tsuna's face and he splutters, closing his eyes and trying to wipe it away. When they open again, Kahiro's already at the board and jumping, arms moving perfectly like how his PE teachers always demonstrate. It's an impressive display of her athletic ability and he's in awe-until he sees her face.

Her eyes are looking upwards and her smile is even more vibrant than before. And he gets the sudden desire to fly up into the air using his flames just for the sake of feeling the wind rush through his hair and understanding why she was so enamoured with the sky.

Then the moment is over as quickly as it came and she lands, sand flying everywhere again.


	4. Salt

**These are actually pretty relaxing to write**

 **I should write drabbles more often**

-Salt-

Food tech always ends in disaster.

It's practically a preconceived fact-or at least it is to Tsuna.

For starters, he often ends up putting an incorrect amount of ingredients in due to reading instructions wrong, only realizing when it's too late. Then there is Yamamoto, who could cook perfectly most of them time but every now and then would put some _ridiculous_ ingredient in, laughing about how he really liked that said ingredient so it was bound to taste good with it in. And then there is _Gokudera_ who is literally unable to not _burn_ anything he made on a stove (which is why Tsuna desperately tries to keep him cutting and measuring the ingredients instead).

The fangirls of his two friends are always in terrible danger also, often requesting to eat their food only to end up violently sick.

No, scratch that, the _entire_ class is in danger whenever they have food tech because the likelihood of Reborn, I-pin, Fuuta, Lambo and Bianchi getting involved is always stupidly high.

This is why Tsuna didn't break down hysterically when their pan had caught on fire (Gokudera had just put in some herbs for crying out loud!), nor when Yamamoto started putting in some liquorice to their stir fry sauce and not even when Bianchi entered and started giving Kyoko's group some tuition (oh please, please, _please_ don't ask he eat it later).

Reborn's kicking of Lambo into another group's stew, the toddler making it explode with his grenade brings him fairly close however.

Tsuna puts his head in his hands and makes muffled distressed noises, half wishing this is all some horrific nightmare. He's then bumped into by a classmate carrying a fire extinguisher to put out the fire Gokudera has caused. The boy falls forwards, hands flying out to steady himself against the nearby table top. To his horror, his hand knocks into a salt holder and it falls into a pan of chilli con carne sauce.

"Hiiee, I-I'm so sorry!" He blurts out, horror seeping through his veins. Oh, he's going to get _murdered_ by the group this pan belongs to and this really is turning into his worst food tech class _ever_ -

The person standing in front of the pan picks up a spoon and delves it into the sauce. They then lift it to their lips and taste it. "Well, salty chilli con carne isn't that bad!" The words make relief hit him and he opens his mouth to apologize once more when he sees it's Kahiro who has spoken to him.

"Imada-chan, I'm really sorry…" He mumbles, finding it embarrassing how he's always doing the stupidest things in front of her.

"No worries, no worries!" She laughs, eyes gleaming. "In fact I like it better this way. You're worth your salt as a cook, Tsunayoshi!"

Her pun is so _awful_ that it's impossible not smile a little but, even though it's said jokingly, Tsuna can't help but feel a little happy at the compliment.

"T-thank you.."

Kahiro continues to smile brightly and turns back to her pan as Tsuna trudges back to his own disastrous group. "Ah, Hiro-chan, let me taste!" A girl steals the spoon from her hand and lifts it to her mouth, almost immediately coughing. " _So salty_! Hiro-chan, why did you put so much salt in?!"

The girl laughs. "Really? I thought it tastes good this way!"

"God, you have such a weird taste in food…"


	5. Clip

**Short one this time sorry**

 **Every time I look at the prompts I get super hyped for future chapters like dayum those are gonna be fun :D**

-Clip-

Kahiro rarely wears her hair down.

It's something Tsuna's noticed about the girl in passing, a piece of information he's absorbed without really thinking about it.

Her hair is usually pulled into a ponytail so it stays out of her face-practical like how she wears shorts underneath her skirt (everyone knows this since she's always running around and doing things that most girls would usually be mortified to do without the security of shorts).

It adds to her image of a sportswoman too as it's the same hairstyle she wears whilst being abnormally active.

And, if nothing else, it suits her by making her smile fully visible instead of being partly hidden underneath a curtain of hair.

So, when Tsuna enters the classroom and sits at his desk, Yamamoto and Gokudera sat near him and chatting about Lambo's most recent explosive incident, he almost thinks a new girl has entered their class when he sees hair cascading down her shoulders.

Her hair is fairly straight with small waves at points caused by her inability to sit still. It's a dark brown too that gets a little lighter towards the tips. And, at this moment in time, it's held back from her face with a clip made up of black swirls. It's simplistic enough so that it doesn't look too girly although the elegance of it seems strange and foreign in connection to Kahiro who has her sleeves scruffily rolled up to her elbows and jumper tied around her waist.

But somehow the change in style seems to grow on Tsuna and the juxtaposition between her scruffy appearance and elegant clip slowly turns into something that suits Kahiro as strange as it is.

It's during break that a thought becomes solidified in Tsuna's mind as Kahiro runs about, hair flying around her and clip catching the light, vibrant laughter bouncing off of the classroom walls.

 _She looks pretty with her hair down._


	6. Bread

-Bread-

Today isn't Tsuna's day.

To begin with, Reborn woke him up at the crack of dawn, demanding he go on a morning run in punishment for being third to last at the 100m sprint (he's gotten a little better since meeting Reborn as a result of all the bullets and bombs he needs to evade constantly). Then he accidently ran into Ryohei who dragged him around the whole of Namimori twice all in the name of showing Tsuna the exercise the boxing club does.

As a consequence, he ended up being late for school and Hibari chased him around the school building five times, demanding a fight he did not want to take a part in. Gokudera then almost blew up the canteen after they ran out of food he was going to buy for his beloved tenth and Yamamoto almost killed someone during PE after someone threw him a baseball.

To top it all off, his English paper, which he knew he'd failed at miserably and tried to forget about, came back that lesson, the boy only having gotten 12 marks out of 60. So now he had to stay behind and take a supplementary class and afterwards be killed by Reborn for doing so poorly.

He sits at his desk and inwardly sobs at the realization also that he seems to be the only one taking this supplementary class, already anticipating the glares he is going to get from the English teacher when they enter.

It's then the classroom door slides open and he readies himself for a lecture. To his surprise, Kahiro rushes in instead, ponytail swinging from side to side as she races to the desk beside him and plunks herself down. "Thank _god,_ I thought I was late!" She exclaims, leaning back in her chair and breathing deeply.

"Imada-chan, you didn't do well in the English test?" Tsuna questions, surprised and secretly a little glad that he isn't the only one to fail.

She laughs sheepishly. "I wrote all my answers one question off. Didn't even realize until I got to the last question and then it was too late!" Kahiro then sighs dramatically. "Today is not my day-the canteen ran out of food so I borrowed some from a friend on the football team in return for playing in their club today. I then only remembered about this class when I'd already gone out to the club so I got my ears yelled off by the coach. The bread always falls on the buttered side, doesn't it?"

Tsuna shudders in memory of his awful day. "Yeah…"

"Well, at least we aren't alone in our misery." She proclaims, grinning widely at Tsuna. He blinks, momentarily taken aback by what she is implying:

 _I am glad you are with me._

Him, no-good Tsuna, overall loser and clumsy idiot to most of the school population.

Then, he smiles back.

 _The bread didn't fall completely on the buttered side this time._


	7. Fish

**Can't stop won't stop :D**

-Fish-

Tsuna doesn't belong in a classroom.

Kahiro realizes this practically the first day she becomes aware of his existence in the world. He just doesn't fit in like everyone else does, hasn't got the whole system of school life figured out in that brain of his.

It's not like her with how she feels in her element running around outside instead of sitting in a desk for hours on end; she understands and endures the whole thing making it a mere preference of environments rather than not belonging. But for Tsuna it's less of a preference, more a complete inability to live how students were meant to live.

It isn't just the lessons he can't navigate through like everyone else does, it's the rest of social requirements that come along with school life too. He's shy, somewhat socially awkward and easily beaten down by the mocking sneers of classmates. Of course, his friends of his lessen the blow a little, almost forming a protective shield around the boy to shield him from his forthcomings, but it doesn't work entirely.

She can't quite sympathise with his lacking social life. Kahiro's always managed to slip into friendship groups with startling ease, always been able to read social cues and react accordingly. Her smiles and genuine laughter only serve to make people even more fond of her and she's got friends spanning all three year groups of both genders. She's a social creature if there ever was one.

Completely different to Tsuna.

It's one afternoon after school that she really sees the real difference between herself and the boy however. She's stood outside, hands in her pockets and PE kit thrown on scruffily. The football team is clearing up the field (she's meant to be helping but her muscles are aching a little from having not played football for a while) and it's then that she looks over to see a group of people walking out of the school building.

She recognizes most of them at a single glance but instead of just looking at what is before her of a surface level, she internalizes it.

On the very edge of the group walks the demon prefect with his henchman Kusakabe-the latter is actually quite the sweetheart despite the rough expressions as Kahiro found out during a detention where she was meant to be quiet but couldn't help striking up a conversation. A little further in walks an extremely pretty woman, who Kahiro's noticed showing up randomly in their food classes, and by her side walks a two girls. She identifies one as Kyoko, the beautiful school idol, but the other is unfamiliar with brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a bright smile on her face.

At the very front of the group two toddlers run around, the boxing club captain Ryohei firing off some punches at mid air, which makes the children scream with glee. Just behind them walks a toddler wearing a fedora, looking clearly disinterested by the other children's game. Then there's Gokudera and Yamamoto, both standing on the respective right and left of the boy situated slap bang in the middle of this crowd.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_.

He seems to be speaking animatedly with the two boys flanking him, brows furrowed slightly with concern. Gokudera makes enthusiastic hand gestures, proud smile fixed on his face, to which Tsuna looks a little exasperated but smiling all the same. Yamamoto laughs and the silver haired boy and him seem to begin to have a one-sided argument.

They get close enough at this point for Kahiro to hear Tsuna's tired sigh and request for them to stop arguing and-

And then it gets strange.

Because Tsuna turns and makes eye contact with Hibari, opening his mouth to speak. "Hibari-san, I'm really sorry…"

Kahiro listens attentively now, somewhat surprised by Tsuna's words as, even if you can hear the nervous edge to his voice, he speaks to Hibari as though it is almost a normal occurrence.

Hibari who tends to hate anyone who tries to speak to him.

(She hasn't tried that herself-she isn't stupid enough to incur _his_ wrath.)

"Hn. I expect him to be there." Hibari's tone is clipped and hostile, but it's a verbal response all the time. A verbal response not involving a threat.

It's insane, Kahiro realizes as she watches them walk away. Tsuna, socially awkward Tsuna who struggles in the classroom to understand the society that is their class, somehow looks almost like a... _leader_ in this group of his.

He's always been a fish out of water in the classroom.

She's understood this for so long. But it's only now that she's seen where his water is. And, upon witnessing it, Kahiro can't help but wish she had somewhere more interesting than a classroom to thrive in.


	8. Race

-Race-

Tsuna leans his head against the palm of his hand as his teacher drones on, wanting to fall asleep but knowing full well Reborn would _kill him_ if he did.

Quite literally.

It's bad enough that he's taking another supplementary class so giving his tutor another reason to want his head on a silver platter is not a good idea. It's an English one again, although this time he's got Yamamoto in with him instead of Kahiro, who really had been telling the truth when she said she'd just messed up where she wrote her answers.

He's sitting by the window, which really isn't helping with keeping his attention focused on the lesson. It's as his eyes wander from the board to the view outside that he sees members of the girl's track team all readying themselves on the startings blocks. He assumes they're all third years-that being until he sees the tell tale dark hair in a ponytail and jumper rolled up scruffily to the elbow.

The teacher then raises their arm and fires the starting signal, Tsuna not flinching much at the noise. After all, one did get somewhat used to the sound of gunshots when you lived with a hitman.

All of the girls react instantaneously, already seeming to be halfway around the track in a split second. It's hard to tell who is leading as they run around the curve, but it becomes obvious fairly soon that a third year and Kahiro are leading. They go around the curve again before reaching the final straight. It's close, Kahiro nipping at the heels of the third year with hair flying behind her. However, the older girl pulls away at the last second, his classmate ending up behind her.

After a moment, Kahiro goes up to her upperclassman and the two girls began laughing, the older one slapping her playfully on the back. Kahiro then jogs away, moving in such a direction that she ends up underneath the window he is peering out from. Her eyes look up to the sky and she smiles widely before seeing him and blinking. "Hey! You got extra classes?"

He's somewhat taken aback by the suddenness of her question but nods in response.

"Ooooh, English again?" She winces in sympathy. "I'd prefer to do one hundred 400m sprints than that."

Seeing his teacher on their computer, searching through things, Tsuna leans his head through the window a little and speaks as loudly as he dares. "You run pretty...fast…" He finishes lamely, suddenly thinking that the comment might be seen by Kahiro as kinda weird.

To his relief, she laughs just as brightly as usual. "Thanks! Don't think I'll ever beat the track captain though. She runs fast as _hell_ even with an injured foot."

"I-injured?!" He gapes, thinking about the speed at which the upperclassman zipped around the track.

"Sawada!" The teacher barks at his exclamation, suddenly beside his desk and scowling. "Stop flirting with girls and pay attention!"

Tsuna flushes at the accusation, very almost squeaking 'we aren't flirting sir' but being stopped by Kahiro's voice. "Sorry I'm being so distracting sir, I just can't help but be a menace." She grins toothily, the teacher rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"I am fully aware of that, Imada. I got an essay from that football coach explaining how outraged he was I made you attend a supplementary class instead of letting you go to a match."

Her grin only got wider at his words. "I'm in popular demand, sir."

"Yes, and in this case the popular demand is for you to go away and stop bothering my supplementary class." He replies sternly.

She laughs and waves goodbye, continuing jogging on by. "Insufferable child." His teacher grumbles as he makes his way back to the front of the classroom.

Tsuna hides his smile behind his hand.


	9. Poor

**Someone should've told me before that drabbles were fun to right because wow I love writing these**

-Poor-

Kahiro isn't poor in terms of money. Her family has a moderate amount of money and she's never had to want for much more than she has-although all she's ever wanted was to rush around underneath the blue sky and find joy in everything.

She isn't poor in health either. After all, how can she be with how much exercise she does every day?

Her taste isn't particularly poor either, although some argue otherwise in reference to how scruffily she tends to wear her clothing.

She's got above average intelligence so you wouldn't describe her knowledge as being poor too.

And, most of the time, she doesn't feel any sense of being deprived of anything; Kahiro's pretty happy with her life in general and doesn't like dwelling on upsetting things.

But every now and then, when she glimpses Tsuna and his group of friends who share a spectrum of emotions together (love, anger, happiness, sadness, empathy, loyalty, hurt) and then looks back to her stretched to the point of snapping circle of friends who share a little less (joy, unhappiness, amusement, hurt), Kahiro feels like she's the poorest person in the world.


	10. Rich

**See what I did there**

-Rich-

Tsuna isn't rich in terms of money. Him and his mother are more well off than most families as a result of Iemitsu's line of work but it isn't as though he's always been able to demand to have whatever he wants (Lambo does however and it's exceedingly annoying sometimes that he ends up getting his way).

He hasn't got a rich air about him either; too simplistic and ordinary to everyone who sees him instead of powerful and interesting.

His taste isn't particularly rich either, opting instead for normal, common pieces of clothing that blend perfectly in with what every other teenager is wearing.

He always gets below average scores in tests too, making him hardly rich with knowledge.

And, most of the time, he doesn't feel as though his life is incredible enough to make him feel rich by just living through his daily routine, often dwelling on the things that make him feel somewhat miserable like his lack of social life (especially in comparison to Kahiro since she's hardly ever alone and she must feel like she's hit the jackpot every single day).

But, every now and then, he looks at his group of friends who he shares a spectrum of emotions with (love, anger, happiness, sadness, empathy, loyalty, hurt) and then looks over at those whose circles of friends are stretched to the point of snapping and share a little less (joy, unhappiness, amusement, hurt), and Tsuna feels like he's the richest person in the world.


	11. Name

**Trying to run parallels between characters more, hehe**

 **Also last one I've already written gotta go write some more now**

-Name-

It's only when Tsuna calls out to her from across the hall that Kahiro notices the discrepancy between how everyone else addresses her and how he does.

"You don't have to be so polite Tsunayoshi!" She tells him as she makes her way over, the question about why he has called out to her forgotten in favour of addressing this issue she has just noticed.

"Um, polite?" He looks perplexed and his confusion seems so silly that she laughs (she's glad he never takes her laughter as mocking him because it would be so easy for him to take it the wrong way and for him to crumple before her eyes like he does when people taunt and sneer with awful intentions).

"Still on last name basis! Honestly, if you're going to be accused of flirting with me, at least use my first name to make a juicy rumour!" She shakes her head whilst smiling when he flusters a little, still clearly mortified by the accusation their English teacher made about them. "Anyway, I sort of started calling you by your first name without permission so an eye for an eye." Kahiro points at his eye with her index finger, grinning evilly.

He eyes her finger with a small degree of wariness before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She is about to open her mouth to say more when he starts speaking hesitantly. "Ah, so, Kahiro-chan, right?" He stumbles over her name, eyes flicking to her face to search for any sign that he's done something wrong.

She takes a moment before responding, thinking about how she's never been called anything but 'Hiro' by everyone who knows her, a nickname that's stuck with her since she was a young child. It's what she'd been meaning to tell him, to call her by that rather than 'Kahiro', but she finds she rather likes the way he clumsily drawls out her name, tripping over the 'ro' so that it sounds quiet and soft. "Just drop the chan and we're good to go, Tsunayoshi!" She gives him the thumbs up, Tsuna about to open his mouth when someone calls to Kahiro, yelling out her nickname in an impatient tone. "Sorry, gotta dash!"

Tsuna pauses for a moment, thinking about how he's never been called anything but 'Tsuna' by those who know him, a nickname that's stuck with him since he was a young child. It's what he'd been meaning to tell her, to call him by that rather than 'Tsunayoshi', but he finds he rather likes the way she says his name in a fast rhythm, lips forming a smile as she finishes with the 'shi' so that it makes his name seem like something unbearably happy to her.

The reason why he's called out to her in the first place which lies in the form of a notebook left behind by the girl is completely forgotten by both parties.


	12. Vault

**Too fast too furious boom**

 **Literally wrote this in a few minutes prepare for awfulness**

 **Jokes on you, it already is :D**

-Vault-

If one were to ask who was the one to have the most secrets in Namimori Middle, the answers would be completely different depending on who you asked.

Most would say the demon prefect, one _Hibari Kyoya,_ as people speculated him knowing secrets of national importance seeing as how much people revered him.

However, if one were to ask someone with a far more level-headed mind, the answer would be one of the many transfer students-since really, it was somewhat ridiculous that so many transfer students showed up all the time.

A fangirl would reply Gokudera Hayato as he was supposedly the most mysterious hottie of them all.

A teacher would answer Sasagawa Kyoko since god knows how her sanity had remained considering she lived with her brother Sasagawa Ryohei.

A logical thinker would answer Imada Kahiro as she knew everyone and knowing everyone meant she knew the most secrets.

Kahiro would answer none of these things.

Instead, her reply would be that of Sawada Tsunayoshi. To the naked eye, he seemed a somewhat cowardly excuse for a teenage boy, hopeless at his studies and hopeless at socializing. But, once out of a school environment, he was a leader with fierce eyes.

There had to be things he knew that no one else did to be like that. He had to have a vault of secrets that only he had the combination to. A combination he gave sometimes to his friends to let them in on some of the secrets he knew, which was why they held their heads close together sometimes and whispered lowly, unnoticed by the rest of the student populace.

Sometimes, Kahiro imagined being given the combination to the vault too, being permitted to cast her eyes over that which no one else knew by Tsuna himself.

She quite liked that idea.


	13. Crime

**Disco girl will not calm down with her writing skillz this be too fun for that B)**

-Crime-

It's not done on purpose.

It's a far cry from a conscious act, instead done without thinking, unknowingly.

It'll happen randomly too, happen at the best possible moment, happen at the worst possible moment and happen at all the moments inbetween.

Sometimes other people will notice. Sometimes they'll widen their eyes in honest surprise. Other times they'll laugh or sneer depending on who it is. It's rare that it's ever looked upon with honest indifference.

Usually however, it happens without other people aware of it. It happens silently, discreetly.

The length varies too. At times it'll last for a split second. At others it'll last for what seems like an eternity. There's no telling how long or short it'll be.

Likewise, it's never known who'll be doing it, not even to themselves.

Today it happens that she does it first. She tilts her head at the sound of his voice within the thrum of conversations going on around them. Someone's talking to her and she's paying attention, she swears she is, but her gaze drifts across the windows and the desks over to exactly where he is and lingers.

She isn't actually looking at him. Her thoughts are honestly still on the conversation going on right in front of her. Only when he notices someone's eyes on him does he flick his attention onto her briefly and she blinks, finally realizing what she's doing.

She smiles sheepishly, hand waving as if to say 'sorry, I wasn't thinking about what I was doing' before she snaps her neck back to the conversation at hand.

It's a mere fifteen minutes later in the middle of class that he does it himself. His eyes trail across the forms in front of him, finally resting on her. He's thinking about the class, thinking about it desperately in fact since he's failing it _so_ badly, but somehow his gaze has still wandered and landed upon her.

He blinks himself when she turns to hand a pen to someone and their eyes lock for a brief moment. Unlike her, he flushes a light pink in pure embarrassment, earning a silent laugh and relaxed shrug of the shoulders from her.

The person she was handing the pen to notices this time and glances between them, confused by their wordless exchange but saying nothing.

Somehow, this happens several times in a day alone. They never speak to each other about it though.

They don't know quite why but the act is seen as something wrong. The accidental yet constant locking of eyes is a crime in their minds. A crime to be ashamed of.

But Kahiro and Tsuna never do find themselves able to be so guilty about it.


	14. Photograph

Music exam tomorrow haha

haha

 _haha_

*lies in fetal position*

-Photograph-

The whole class is practically _buzzing_ with energy.

It's been that way since the bell rang to signify the end of school and Kahiro took something out of her bag, the people around her immediately pointing and making a huge fuss.

Since then the girl has been running around this way and that, the wave of classmates in front of Tsuna obscuring his view to the cause of this mayhem. Both Yamamoto and Gokudera have somehow managed to get caught in the crowd and Tsuna hears the latter squawk angrily at those obstructing his path towards his beloved tenth.

Tsuna waits patiently at his desk, casting looks of complete disbelief at the crowd every now and then. It's then he spies Kahiro almost falling as she pulls herself out of the throng of people, face flushed with happiness and eyes sparkling. They fix themselves on him and she sprints over, ignoring the calling of her friends. "Tsunayoshi! Just the guy I needed!" She exclaims, the brunet blinking rapidly.

"Um, wha-" He's cut off by the girl swinging an arm around his shoulders and lifting a sleek, new looking phone above them, finger poised above the button on the screen. Not that he saw the piece of technology, instead occupied with looking at Kahiro in surprise as she leans into him, their cheeks almost touching. Her finger presses the screen and she withdraws her arm from his shoulder, grasping at her phone with both hands.

"Thanks!" Kahiro grins. "I got this new phone and everyone's been wanting to try out the camera so I thought I should get photos for all my contacts!" She explains in a rush as she presses her screen a few times before handing the mobile over to the boy. He stares down at the phone for a few moments, taking in what was on the screen.

In the middle of the screen was his name followed by a fish and a dinosaur. The space below it read 'mobile' in faint lettering, a silent instruction.

"Number?" Kahiro prompts, not seeming at all bothered by his hesitance and confusion.

"Oh! Ah, mine?" Tsuna tries not to gape-it's hardly a normal occurrence for someone to ask for his number, a popular girl no less.

"Who else?" And when she laughs as though she finds it completely silly that he's questioning whether she wants his number, Tsuna can't help but stare at her in awe.

He inputs his number as quick as lightning after that, handing the phone back to the still inexplicably overjoyed Kahiro who waves farewell before jumping back into the crowd again.

Only a few seconds later whilst his head is still light from giddiness that his mobile vibrates and he pulls it out of his bag to see a new message from an unknown phone. Opening it, he's greeted with a photograph.

A smile takes the centre stage and he's drawn to it, practically hearing the laughter escape the lips.

She looks important, dazzlingly important and almost demanding attention even with her hair slightly messed up and collar askew.

He on the other hand looks pitiful, completely insignificant and looking at her as if he's completely astounded that she's there, next to him.

Then he sees how her arm is wrapped around his shoulders and how her eyes are open and looking directly at him as if to say 'I see you'.

 _You aren't insignificant._

 _I see you._

Tsuna saves the photograph, very almost missing the joking message beneath it reading 'Smile next time Tsunayoshi!'


	15. Quill

Yo this chapter be accurate af

-Quill-

Tsuna isn't quite sure how it got to this point.

A few days back he'd gotten a question from her about what the homework was for maths.

Now he was lying on his bed, trying not to laugh too hard at Kahiro's anger at being unable to type the word 'why'.

 _Kahiro: Ehy_

 _Kahiro: Ehy_

 _Kahiro: EHY_

 _Kahiro: EHY_

 _Kahiro: DUCK_

 _Kahiro: NO NOT DUCK, DUCK_

 _Kahiro: DUCK_

 _Kahiro: DUCK_

 _Kahiro: FUCK*_

 _Kahiro: FINALLY_

 _Kahiro: EHY_

 _Kahiro: I AM GOING TO KILL SOMEONE_

Had Tsuna not been glued to his phone for the past few days he would've noticed Reborn's raised eyebrows at his constant messaging and the constant stream of messages in response-especially since the arcobaleno knew that it wasn't Yamamoto or Gokudera he was talking to.

But Kahiro was far too good at maintaining their conversation for that, far too good at being ridiculously entertaining for Tsuna to put his phone down.

Added to the fact that Tsuna was far more confident in communicating to people through a screen than in person, it really wasn't so surprising that the two had become comfortable messaging buddies.

 _Tsunayoshi: Fine literature there_

Kahiro barely managed to stop laughter from passing her lips. She hadn't anticipated that messaging Tsuna would be as fun as it was but their conversations (after a few shaky starts) flowed with ease-they boy even showed some _sass_ at times!

 _Kahiro: I'll have you know I write this message with the finest of smart-quill in the style of William Shakespeare himself, mere peasant._

 _Kahiro: I am the modern day Shakespeare now down_

 _Kahiro: Now_

 _Kahiro: Now_

 _Kahiro: NOW_

 _Kahiro: DUCK_

 _Kahiro: AAAARRRUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH_

Tsuna almost fell off of his bed laughing.

 _Tsuna: Shakespeare indeed_

 _Kahiro: You know how I said I was going to kill someone earlier? That someone is you now_

 _Kahiro: Start running now_

 _Tsuna: Typo?_

 _Kahiro: Yeah you're dead_


	16. Punch

AYE MUSIC WENT GREAT NO MORE FETAL POSITION FOR ME HAHA

-Punch-

Tsuna sits on the ground with his legs sprawled out in front of him, hand massaging his sore jaw as he looks up at the seniors leering at him. He can hear Reborn's voice of disapproval already- _not even going to fight back? Pathetic-_ but he knows that they'll walk off if he doesn't put up any sort of fight from past experience.

"Fucking _brat_ ," one of them snarls as the other two laugh almost hysterically, Tsuna feeling his face burn in humiliation even though he's resolved not to fight back anyway. "Serves you right-"

"Hey!" A cheerful voice sounds from behind the trio and the boys turn, still grinning. "What's going on here?"

"Ah, Hiro! Doing your club of the week?" The boy who had been snarling now sounds almost pleasant as Kahiro slides in next to him with a smile, his arm swinging around her shoulders. She's in her PE kit and is flushed from exercise most likely, hair falling out of her ponytail. "We're just teaching a kid a lesson here!" He announces, almost sounding proud. "Bumped into me and split water _all_ over my bag!"

Kahiro blinks and she then looks down to see Tsuna for the first time since she's arrived. And it's awful, Tsuna decides, how the sparkle to her eyes dims and that smile vanishes almost completely because of him since that's her charm, that never-ending joy. He looks down at the floor, shame overwhelming him.

 _I should've fought back._

Then: " _Ow!_ Hiro, what the fuck is _wrong_ with you?!" The senior yelps and Tsuna looks up just as a hand grabs his wrist. He's yanked to his feet and tugged away, almost tripping over his feet at the speed he's being made the walk. "Hiro! Hiro get back here, you crazy bitch!"

The girl doesn't reply, grip on Tsuna's wrist only getting a little tighter in response to their words. Only when they're a good distance away does she stop and spin around, face twisted into an expression of anger and concern. "Are you alright?" Kahiro asks seriously and Tsuna registers in the back of his head that it's almost funny to hear her speak like this.

"I'm fine, Kahiro!" He reassures her, still feeling the burn of humiliation on his face. God, he must have looked completely _pathetic_ back there.

She looks unconvinced and reaches her hand forwards, fingertips skimming his already bruising skin. Tsuna winces involuntarily, guilt washing through him again when Kahiro's expression only gets further away from it's usual happy grin. "Punching people for spilling water on a bag. To think I got _along_ with them." She sounds almost disgusted with herself, Tsuna's eyes widening in alarm.

"Don't break your friendship over this-honestly, I'm _fine_!"

Kahiro looks at him as though he's crazy and he's about to reassure her again that he is really okay-and it's true since he's had _much_ worse than just a punch to the face-when she speaks again. "I don't stay friends with people who hurt people who are my real friends."

Tsuna feels as though he's gotten a far stronger punch to the stomach now and the air is knocked out of him as he stares at Kahiro who's just said that so _easily,_ said that he means more to her than those seniors and so she's willing to cut her ties with them.

Yes, he knew they were friends of some sort with their constant messaging but this is different. Being told he's one of her real friends is a different level altogether considering how she was so popular.

His silence must have worried her and she hesitates. "We are friends, right?"

The hint of anxiety in her voice is another punch to the gut-she's Kahiro, the social butterfly whose smiles just draw people to her naturally and he's _no-good Tsuna_ who does nothing but fail, fail, fail.

And she's scared he doesn't want to be friends with her.

She _wants_ to be friends with him.

"Yes-I mean, of course, _yes_!" He finds his voice, almost cringing at how loud it is when it escapes his throat.

Her eyes light up and Kahiro feels a little pathetic for feeling so overjoyed that Tsuna and her are friends-but then again she's seen how he treats his friends with the utmost care and undying loyalty and she's never realized how much she wanted that until now.

Tsuna on the other hand can't help but feel a little glad he didn't fight back now.


	17. X-Ray

You should all now call me

 _Drabbleabc_

Shut up I'm hilarious

-X-Ray-

Kahiro isn't a stranger to being judged.

It came hand in hand with her popularity in the student body-being the centre of attention simply made people judge her whether it be intentional or not.

Usually it's nice judgements. She's a happy, cheerful girl enamoured with life itself and she strives to get along with as many people as possible so she's liked and met with smile.

But it's also that label that has been thrust upon her which has led to the negative judgements because sometimes Kahiro isn't that happy, cheerful girl enamoured with life itself. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed by her circle of friends so tightly stretched they're about to snap. Sometimes she feels as though she's failing the expectations of her teachers. Sometimes she just looks up at the sky to find it covered with grey clouds and that in itself just makes her feel gloomy.

People then whisper about her cheery self being an act when that smile disappears. People then get irritated when she tries to talk about what's upsetting her- _I thought you were more laid-back than this,_ people had said to her, expecting her to be all smiles and fun. The same people who would then talk about their unhappiness expecting her to listen attentively and cheer them up when she wasn't allowed to expect the same.

So it's easier now for her to not talk about it and instead just put on a smile no matter what her real feelings are. And usually the smile is real, it's just every now and then it's not and her grin hurts her face.

Kahiro stares at landscape in front of her. She's doing the triple jump today (she often returns to the athletics club because of the variety of things you can do) and she tightens her ponytail, breathing in and out slowly. Then she begins her run up, sprinting before performing the hop and beginning to move her arms behind her. Next the step and, as she cuts through the air, she prepares to jump-

Her feet skid to stop upon landing and there's a sort of hopeless feeling in her chest that's spreading, eyes wide as her thoughts swim around her head.

 _I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it-_

"Kahiro?"

She turns to see Tsuna making his way over. Behind him she can see Yamamoto and Gokudera waiting, the latter's irritation seeming to imply that he's been ordered to stay there instead of follow after the brunet. Kahiro plasters a smile onto her face, trying to squash the horrible sensation of hopelessness. "Hey! Did you see me mess up my footing?" She asks, the perfect image of sheepishness as she rubs the back of her head and laughs awkwardly. "Haven't done the triple jump in a while-"

"What's wrong?"

Kahiro hesitates, eyes widening a fraction in surprise and smile faltering a little, turning away a little as so to not meet his gaze. "Why do you think anything is wrong?"

"You look upset."

Her eyes snap back to him and her mouth opens to argue back before closing. Tsuna's looking at her with a deathly serious expression, eyebrows furrowed in concern. He's seen through her smile with ease, like an X-ray seeing what is wrong beneath the skin. And suddenly there is a multitude of things she wants to say. She wants to say that people don't see through her smiles so easily, that what's wrong is insignificant since no one has ever listened, that she can't remember a time where someone has just gone up to her whilst she's smiling and asked whether she was really okay.

"I…" Even with these one hundred things she wants to say, she can't seem to find anything to choke out. "I just…"

"...Do you maybe want to come to the ice-cream place with Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto and me?" Tsuna asks softly and without any expectation. _You can come if you want. I won't might if you turn down the offer at all. I just want to help._

"Yeah." It comes out as a whisper alongside a nod. "Yeah I do."

He smiles reassuringly at her.

Kahiro feels something inside her break a little.


	18. Railroad

I'm glad people seem to like this! I have so much fun writing it myself so positive feedback is only making it better haha :)

-Railroad-

Kahiro's later life seemed set in stone for everyone, including herself.

She was on track to become someone incredibly important, perhaps a politician of sorts with her charming personality and her status as a social butterfly or maybe just as successful sportswoman. Friends with everyone and able to keep it that way for the most part, she would live a life people would be envious of. She'd fall in love with someone who would undoubtedly love her back (it was hard not to be so incredibly fond of her when she was so in love with life and happiness). She'd marry and probably have kids since she was so incredibly good with them.

Her life would be good.

Then she accidentally bumped into Tsuna whilst dancing like a madwoman and caught a glimpse of how his life was going to turn out.

The socially awkward boy in school would continue to thrive outside of it. He'd continue to lead people with care and understand his responsibility over them. His circle of friends would only grow since everyone would end up adoring him because of how much he cared about them. People would love him and in turn he'd lavish his utmost affection upon the one he'd go on to marry and live a long and happy life with.

After catching that glimpse, she found upon turning back to what her life was going to be like that it wasn't actually that good after all. Her many friends wouldn't share the same closeness that Tsuna had with his friends. Whoever she fell in love with and returned her feelings wouldn't be returning them because of her whole personality, it'd be because of the happy side (which was to be fair a big side to her but she was _more_ than just that). Her smile would never leave her face even when she needed it to.

So, when she saw there was a different life she could lead, a life so much happier and glorious than her own, she left the tracks set out before her almost immediately and started to follow his railroad instead.


	19. Wreck

Ugh this is not good sorry I'll hide now

-Wreck-

Tsuna's sat on the floor cross legged messaging on his phone again. Reborn no longer views this as a strange occurrence, instead having even accounted this new habit of his student as part of his daily life.

Every now and then the teenage boy tries to cover up a laugh, more often than not completely failing and letting loose his sniggers. This messaging never fails to make Tsuna unbearably happy and so Reborn decides to tolerate the bursts of sound-although sometimes he gives him a stern look when he's being too loud. Not that Tsuna ever notices, too absorbed with that phone of his.

Then, suddenly, Tsuna's giggling stops and Reborn looks up from the newspaper he is reading to see the boy staring at his screen, his eyes wide. His fingers stay poised above the phone, not typing. After a few moments of stillness, Tsuna puts the phone down and stands, face slightly flushed and eyes bright with inexplicable joy and surprise. He murmurs something about needing water and leaves the room.

Curious, Reborn walks over to the phone and picks it up, unlocking it with ease (Tsuna really has pathetic passwords). A stream of messages in the form of a conversation fill the screen.

 _Kahiro: I am distressed you didn't find my last joke so funny_

 _Kahiro: I spent a long time on it you know_

 _Tsuna: Seriously?_

 _Tsuna: Do you not have anything better to do right now?_

 _Kahiro: Better than spend my afternoon talking to you?_

 _Kahiro: You are asking me whether I can do the impossible_

It's reads as though her messages have been thrown out in the most casual way possible and Reborn suddenly sees why Tsuna had had such a reaction.

It's not so much the idea of her seriously thinking _nothing_ is better than talking to him. It's the idea that she enjoys talking to him enough to even joke about it. It's the idea that she's spending time on their conversations.

It's the idea he's important.

And Reborn's almost impressed by how this girl Kahiro has wrecked Tsuna so easily.


	20. Coin

No it's not the fic that's cute

You are the cute ones

(hella smooth is I shush)

-Coin-

Inviting Kahiro to join Gokudera, Yamamoto and him after school had now become a normality for Tsuna after having asked whether she wanted to go eat ice-cream with them that one day. Usually, the girl declines because of her desire to do sports but every now and then she skips or joins them after her club of the moment was over.

Her and Yamamoto luckily got on like a house on fire-they were somewhat similar on first glance, both incredibly social people (although Tsuna could easily see how vastly different they were also-for example, Yamamoto liked to focus on one thing at a time whilst Kahiro would have her attention on a billion things at once, not liking to limit herself). Gokudera on the other hand had at first been both incredibly suspicious and irritated by her, that being until Tsuna mentioned his love of aliens in passing and Kahiro began to direct their conversations onto such a topic.

This is one of those rare times where Kahiro has opted to hang out with them and she walks in time with Yamamoto, listening attentively to his baseball stories and laughing appropriately. "So, where are we going this time?" She asks when Yamamoto had paused his story telling.

"Anywhere the tenth desires!" Came Gokudera's immediate response (Tsuna was infinitely glad that Kahiro had assumed that 'tenth' was just a silly nickname for him).

"I really don't mind." Tsuna looks at his silver haired friend in slight fond exasperation.

"A baseball centre?" Yamamoto suggests.

"No, we are _not_ going there again, we went there yesterday!" Gokudera shouts, looking dismayed by the prospect of a repeat visit.

Yamamoto walks over and slings an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Aw, come on Gokudera, you know you it's a great place!"

"A great place my _ass_!"

Tsuna sighs as Gokudera begin to yell whilst Yamamoto grins and laughs. "We could be random?" Kahiro suggests to him, a slight amused look on her face as a result of the two boys.

He blinks. "What do you mean?"

"Flip a coin. Lose and we go left. Win and we go right. Then we go in the first public place we find." She smiles, already taking a coin out of her pocket. "Head or tails?"

"Wait, I-" Kahiro has already thrown the coin up into the air and he finds himself automatically answering. "Heads!"

She slaps the coin down onto her hand before lifting it and revealing it was in fact heads. "Right it is then!"

"Kahiro-!" He's cut off by her suddenly grabbing his wrist and tugging him behind her, Gokudera immediately shrieking and rushing after him with Yamamoto following.

"Come on, Tsunayoshi!" She laughs breathlessly, turning a little to look at him. "We're teenagers! We've got to be spontaneous sometimes! Anyway," Kahiro suddenly stops and he almost crashes into her. His eyes meet her's and that bright glint of joy that comes from her love of everything dances in them. "If you don't do something completely different, you might never find something _great_."

His breath hitches.

Gokudera and Yamamoto catch up soon after she's finished speaking and Kahiro leads them all into the cafe they've stopped in front of.

It ends up becoming Tsuna's favourite cafe.


	21. Ice

Listening to sad snk music whilst writing

Because yo cuteness arises from remembrance of character deaths _obviously_

-Ice-

Another cooking class.

Another _abysmal_ failure.

Yamamoto and Gokudera both lie on infirmary beds, the latter due to seeing Bianchi and the former from eating a tiny amount of her poison cooking. Tsuna instead sits on one of the chairs, nursing a burn on his hand with some ice.

 _Why_ , he wonders miserably, _why can we not go through one cooking lesson without it ending horribly?_

 _I blame Reborn._

 _Definitely blame Reborn._

The door to the infirmary slides open and he thinks it's Shamal coming back but instead Kahiro pokes her head in, smiling although her eyes are flashing with sympathy and concern. "Hey!"

"What are you doing here?" Tsuna asks as she slides the door shut behind her.

"Funny story that actually-I tripped and I _swear_ I saw it was a kid wearing a fedora tripping me but apparently no one else saw it. It was weird as hell." She shrugs, now smiling in bemusement. "My knee is just bleeding a bit because of falling."

Tsuna almost put his head in his hands.

 _Reborn, why would you do that?!_

"Could you pass me the water behind you?"

Tsuna complies, reaching over to hand it to her. Their fingers touch for a moment and she squeals, taking the bottle from him. "Tsunayoshi, your hand is _freezing!_ "

He opens his mouth to point out to her that he's been holding an ice-pack (although he's fairly certain she knows from how she's grinning now) but she speaks before he has the chance. "You know what they say: cold hands, warm heart!"

Tsuna laughs until he realizes she spoke with sincerity mixed in with her teasing tone and feels his cheeks burn a little.


	22. Truck

YOU GUYS ARE THE CUTEST I MEAN IT

Also these keep getting shorter uGH I'm sorry

-Truck-

Tsuna sighs as he readjusts his grip on the bag filled with shopping. _Trust my mum to let Bianchi order all the shopping and then, after realizing none of it's edible, send me to get stuff._

 _Then again, maybe I should just feel better that she didn't send Bianchi out to get any…_

He pauses upon feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket and, seeing who the message was from, he smiles unconsciously.

 _Kahiro: Heyo whatcha doing?_

He starts walking again, typing as he goes.

 _Tsuna: Coming home from shopping_

 _Tsuna: Feel like my arm is ripping off the bag is so heavy_

 _Kahiro: Haha same_

 _Kahiro: Just finished shopping too_

 _Tsuna: What for?_

 _Kahiro: Well_

 _Kahiro: WAIT I JUST SAW YOU COME BACK_

Tsuna lifts his eyes from his phone and turns to see Kahiro jogging towards him, usual bright beam on her face and hand waving in greeting. "Hey!" She's in her own clothes (after all, it's Sunday) and it's almost funny how Tsuna _knew_ she'd wear clothes that made her look as though she was ready to do exercise at any given point.

It's the box she's carrying under her arm with a big yellow truck in it which stops him from laughing and instead peering curiously at it. "Why are you carrying that around?" He asks, honestly confused.

"I told you, I'm shopping!" She laughs a little at how perplexed he looks. "It's for my cousin. His birthday is soon and he really likes stuff like this. It's his dream to buy a big, yellow truck one day." Kahiro pauses. "You going this way?" She gestures to the road Tsuna was walking down.

"Yeah."

"Same-lot's of coincidences today!" She laughs again and the two begin to walk. "Anyway, as I was saying, I once asked my cousin why he dreams of buying a truck because his brothers and dad are always talking about race cars and wanting to own them."

"And?" Tsuna's already absorbed in her storytelling.

"Well, he said that sometimes all his friends want to go to after school places but it's usually hard for them all to go because the guy who gets picked up in a car doesn't have a car big enough for all of them. So he wants to buy a big yellow truck so all of them can go places together." She smiles fondly at the memory. Then she blinks, turns to him, and tilts her head to the side, smile now directed at him. "You know, I can imagine you wanting to buy a truck for the same reasons."

He averts his eyes from her beam and glittering eyes which were full of awe and respect and fondness of him ( _him_ ), hoping his face isn't as red as it feels warm.

"I mean, I guess a limousine works well too but I can't see you looking comfortable in one at all."

" _Kahiro!_ "


	23. Antique

Hell yeah Kahiro can be your spirit animal B)

-Antique-

"Oh my gosh, look at this!" A girl squeals, five others rushing over and almost immediately 'oohing' and 'ahhing' at the object the first girl had been so excited about.

Kahiro hangs back alongside another girl who looks a little exasperated, chuckling to herself. It's after club practice and the girls of the softball team have nabbed her, insisting that the whole team goes out together-she's always considered a prize member of teams even with how little time she spends with them. Then again, she's been on first name basis with everyone since the start of middle school (and sometimes even earlier) so it's easy to include her.

"God, they should be more quiet than this…" The third year beside her groans, Kahiro still watching the other girls in silent amusement. There's another shriek and the third year pinches the bridge of her nose before she storms over to the group, roaring that they shouldn't cause such trouble for the shop keeper who is laughing nervously.

Kahiro's about to join them all but her attention is caught by something glinting in the light on a shelf near her and she wanders over, curious. On a stand lies what looks as though it is a very old necklace, an antique she'd even go to say. The weathered silver chain has a pendant hanging off of it. In the middle of it is an stone (moonstone, she reads off of the label beneath the piece of jewellery) and it is surrounded by intricate silver fishes, which look as though they're jumping off into the air.

There is one fish that catches her eye however. It's jumping off the very top of the jewel and, whilst the edges seem slightly more weathered than the others, there is a another small bit of moonstone position in the middle of it.

Before she can catch up to her actions, she finds she's already taken a photo of it on her phone, typed out a message and hit send.

In his house, Tsuna feels his phone vibrate in his pocket as he's doing the dishes and, after wiping one of his hands, he unlocks it, eyes scanning over the photo he's received.

It's a beautiful necklace, one he can imagine Bianchi or Kyoko wearing with the centre stone sparkling all seven colours of the rainbow and the jumping fish glinting in the light of the photograph. Then, he sees the message below it.

 _Kahiro: This reminds me of you_

It's not the first time Kahiro's sent a message like that-she's done it a lot actually but usually with silly pictures of a tuna can or a dinosaur ("Your name ends in Yoshi!" She'd laughed as if it were the most obvious thing ever when he'd asked her in person why she kept sending him pictures of dinosaurs). But this is the first time she's sent something honestly beautiful and magnificent and incredible, thinking it reminded her of him.

Suddenly, he can't imagine Bianchi or Kyoko wearing the necklace anymore.

 _Tsuna: I think it'd suit you_

Kahiro considers the message for a few moments, honestly surprised by his response. The necklace is elegant and she's the exact opposite of that-she's scruffy and people don't make friends with her for the polite conversation, they make friends with her because her enthusiasm and smiles are contagious.

But then she walks over to the counter anyway, necklace in hand. "Oh, what a marvellous choice ma'am!" The shopkeeper gushes as she hands the necklace over to him and takes out her wallet. "Are you buying it for yourself?"

"Yep."

"It'll look great on you, I can already tell!" He beams at her.

"You know what?" Kahiro grins. "I think so too."

* * *

P.S. _Moonstones look gorgeous like whoa. Bought some earrings made out of it for my friend for their upcoming birthday today and I just started at it for like ten minutes straight. Rad as_ _ **hell**_ _._


	24. House

Clearly I don't know my own OCs name cuz I keep changing it whoops. Thanks to DulcetOwl for pointing it out.

We're Kahiro forever now

-House-

It's a stroke of luck, Tsuna believes, that out of all the people in his class Kahiro is the one chosen to be his partner for a science project.

For starters, he would've felt like dying if he had a classmate who was not friends with him in any sense (they'd complain the entire time and he'd probably have to apologize for his existence again and again and again).

He would've felt a little better if he had ended up with another friend who wasn't Kahiro but…

Being paired up with Gokudera meant the other guy would do _all_ the work, practically drowning Tsuna in guilt as a result of not doing anything.

Being paired up with Yamamoto meant that they'd be likely to go completely off topic and one point, only to realize three hours later that they'd done no work.

Being paired up with Kyoko would mean he would be a complete mess for most of it and probably think more about his crush than the work.

Therefore getting Kahiro, who would most likely share out the work, bring them back on track when they went too off topic for too long and felt incredibly comfortable to be around, is a real stroke of luck.

"So, this is my house…" Tsuna gestures to the building in front of them, feeling a little awkward for saying those words aloud.

" _Nice_." Kahiro cocks an eyebrow at how big it is, grinning and nudging him with her elbow. "In the money are we?"

"I guess…" Tsuna thinks briefly about the money Iemitsu brings in from his mafia work and pales slightly. Unlocking the door, he steps in and calls a greeting, his mum and Bianchi immediately poking their heads out from two different rooms.

"Welcome back! Oh, who is this?" Nana blinks, not recognizing the girl stood beside her son.

"I'm Tsunayoshi's classmate, Imada Kahiro. We're partners for a science project and I hope you don't mind if we do it here." Kahiro introduces herself with an award-winning smile. "But really, he never told me he had an older sister!" Tsuna catches the slightly amused tone in her voice which indicates that she knows Nana is his mother and that this is blatant flattery.

Nana catches it too and beams, eyes glittering with both amusement and joy. "Oh I _definitely_ don't mind you studying here! And you can come back again too with flattery like that!"

Kahiro laughs and turns to Bianchi. "I'm one of Tsuna's tutors." The woman answers the question Kahiro hasn't spoken yet before her eyes glint. "Would you possibly like some tea?"

"Later! Later!" Tsuna butts in, eyes filling with horror.

"It's very good tea though, my own make-"

"We're very limited on time so we need to make a start!" Tsuna starts pushing Kahiro up the stairs, the girl looking a little bemused. Upon reaching his bedroom, the boy suppresses the urge to groan.

 _I forgot that this house is always a huge danger zone when people first come to visit…_

"Her tea is that bad?" Kahiro questions, Tsuna hiding his face in his hands.

"Bad is an _understatement._ Everything she makes is practically _poison_." _Except it isn't practically, it IS._

"I'll remember that." Kahiro chuckles a little and follows Tsuna to the table in the middle of the room, sitting on one of the cushions.

He notices how she's acting different to how everyone else acted when they first visited his house.

Gokudera had been so incredibly polite.

Yamamoto had acted as though it was his own home.

Kyoko had been reserved and almost uncomfortable.

Haru had actually just infiltrated the place and was incredibly hostile (although very polite to his mother apparently).

Ryohei had yelled a lot and not seemed bothered it was someone else's house.

Chrome had been unbearably shy.

Everyone else had not cared at all about anything or wanted to kill him.

Kahiro however was...comfortable.

Not like Yamamoto's treating of the place like his own or lot's of people's' indifference. It was different.

"Do you visit new houses a lot?" He asks almost without thinking (although Kahiro's never seemed to care about the randomness of his questions sometimes or how awkwardly they're conveyed).

"I guess so." She shrugs.

"It's just you seem really comfortable…Not that I mind! It's just a little different to what I'm used to!" Tsuna hastily adds, not wanting to offend her.

"Really? I'm often told I'm too polite when I visit people's houses!" Kahiro laughs easily and then puts her elbow on the table, resting her head against her open palm. Her eyes cast themselves around the room lazily. "I think it's probably less I'm comfortable in your house, more I'm comfortable with you." Her eyes meet his again and she smiles as though what's she's said is perfectly natural.

It's always how naturally these things flow from her which gets to him.


	25. Flower

Walking out after an exam and knowing you've aced it is the best feeling in the world just saying.

*cries tears of happiness*

-Flower-

"Oh, aren't these flowers pretty!"

"I wonder if I can incorporate them into a new dish…"

Tsuna stands a little way away from his gushing mother and Bianchi who is whispering dark, dark things. Nana's friend had fallen ill and so the woman wanted to buy some flowers for her-hence why they were in a florists.

He'd been (embarrassingly) dragged along after Reborn had suggested he buy some flowers for his female friends-Nana had loved the idea _far_ too much.

Sighing, his eyes drift across the room, a mish-mash of colours making the shop look as though it belonged in a painting. He catches a flash of bright yellow and his gaze settles on a small bouquet of flowers nearby. Walking over, Tsuna leans over to take a closer look at it.

It's a bouquet of yellow tulips, wrapped up in delicate white paper with intricate floral cut outs along the rim, a yellow ribbon of the same colour as the flowers being wound around the bottom. The tulips at first seem simplistic, petals only in one colour, but upon closer inspection he sees tints of orange and red.

Their beauty grows on him, he realizes.

His eyes then focus on the card beneath the bunch of flowers:

 _Tulips-Yellow_

 _Meaning_

 _There's Sunshine In Your Smile_

Tsuna doesn't even notice how, despite having likened Kyoko's smile to the sun several times, his thoughts immediately jump to Kahiro instead.


	26. Shatter

Haha I bet you all thought the author of 'Kyoko' angst teenage what couldn't write this much fluff

You thought wRONG WAHAHAHA

-Shatter-

Tsuna looks almost in pain when Reborn first officially shows up in front of him and Kahiro.

They were walking back from the staffroom after having delivered some textbooks there on their Math teacher's orders when he appeared and the brunet has stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and filled with silent pleading.

Kahiro notices this-she's incredibly perceptive when it comes to social cues, Reborn has realized from his observations of the girl. She immediately looks wary of the arcobaleno as a result of Tsuna's reaction and Reborn is pleased.

 _Smart girl._

Recognition then flashes in her eyes and she speaks: "Hello! Have we by any chance met before, little guy?"

He looks innocently back at her, thinking about how he'd 'accidentally' tripped her once. "No."

Tsuna steals his attention again, expression of pain turned to slight anger. _Don't ruin this,_ the arcobaleno can hear his silent words.

 _I know you. I know how you drag my friends into the mafia if they aren't already knee deep in it._

 _But don't you dare shatter the one friendship I have with someone outside the mafia._

Reborn almost laughs aloud, instead holding back all but a smirk.

 _Idiot Tsuna._

The thing is, he's not planning on shattering their friendship now and sticking it back together as the relationship between a boss and family member. It's for the same reason why he hasn't interfered until now.

Reborn is interested in how this'll turn out.

All of Tsuna's close friends up to now have gotten that closeness because they are family. It's ironically the same mafia that Tsuna's so averse to that has bought him the friends he now has.

But Kahiro is an outlier. She's wormed herself in a Tsuna's friend without any mafia to help their friendship along. And, as she's the only one, it's intrigued Reborn.

How will it progress?

Will it continue strong?

Or will it shatter?

Of course, he intends to eventually pull her into the family too (her social skills are beyond valuable) but for now he'll let it run it's course.

(He's a little offended though that Tsuna breathes a sigh of relief when he leaves.)


	27. Crush

Actually listening to happy music right now whaaaat

-Crush-

Tsuna feels like curling up into a ball of embarrassment as Kahiro grins at him, eyebrows waggling.

It was a slip of the tongue that led him to revealing a secret even his friends didn't know about (although he swears Kahiro made it happen somehow-she's _always_ getting him to say things he wouldn't usually mention).

"So, Sasagawa Kyoko eh?" She looks positively delighted that she's made him spill the beans.

"No, I mean-" He covers his face with his hands. "Kahiro!"

She laughs and pokes him in the shoulder, still squatting in front of his desk so her chin rests against the top of it. "No need to be embarrassed, Tsunayoshi~"

"Stop sounding so pleased about it…" Tsuna half whines, removing his hands from his face. "And look, I know it's hopeless-"

"Hopeless? You sell yourself too low!" Kahiro exclaims and Tsuna's glad that almost everyone in the class has already left for home and Yamamoto and Gokudera had detention for talking in class.

(Well, Yamamoto was laughing and Gokudera was threatening to kill him but that's beside the point.)

"The school idol is a fitting match for you!" She speaks with such sincerity that his cheeks get even redder. "So…" Kahiro stands up a little and leans herself over the desk a little more. "What's it about her you like?"

Tsuna's ready to mumble a request for her to stop this (the embarrassment is killing him) when the question repeats itself in his head.

 _What's it about her you like?_

 _Well,_ he reasons, _I like her because she's kind to everyone including me, even though I'm undeserving-_

 _But my friends are kind to you and tell you over and over again that you're deserving of the praise._

He pauses. _I like her because she's friendly even to me-_

 _But my friends are there for that and it's nothing special._

 _I...I like her because she's never really judged me-_

 _But my friends always accept me, they've accepted me with all my flaws and want me as their friend and leader._

 _I...she's pretty like a model-_

 _But Haru and Chrome are pretty like models-Kahiro is too but it's a different kind of pretty, the kind that grows on you every time you see her._

 _Her smile-_

 _But Kahiro's smile trumps that and she does it all the time._

"I don't know."

Kahiro pokes him in the shoulder again. "The romantic 'I like them and I just don't know why' thing, is it? Didn't think you'd be the type-" She cuts off, seeing his eyes wide and red cheeks gone.

Tsuna thinks about how long it's been since he's stolen glances at Kyoko, thinks about how it's been so long since he's even looked at her and blushed just because he liked her so much.

"No, I...I don't know _why_."

It hurts a little right where his heart is.

Kahiro doesn't move or speak for a while. "...Cafe?" She speaks softly, as if talking to an injured animal.

He nods and it's a sort of numbness growing from his chest out now.

Kahiro carries the conversation as they head there. She's funny, coaxing a few smiles from him every now and then, and for a while he forgets he's even feeling numb. The cafe (his favourite cafe) is practically empty and they sit in comfy armchairs opposite each other. He almost orders coffee but she takes over and gets the hot chocolate for him and herself instead, and he catches her almost saying that it's better for him considering the circumstances.

Through the numbness he feels an acute feeling of injustice at the fact that Kahiro is so used to taking care of people but when he tried to take care of her it seemed an alien, foreign concept.

The hot chocolate is rich in sugar with whipped cream beautifully swirled on the top, chocolate sprinkles dashed everywhere. He immediately understands why she's ordered it-the numbness thaws a little and is replaced by warm, liquid chocolate.

She continues talking for the two of them, now spinning a story about how she once ran directly into a goalpost whilst playing football but somehow managed to score a goal anyway whilst doing so and the bump she got on her head was named 'the champion' as a result. Then she finally asks what's going on in his head.

Tsuna realizes now what the numbness is from- he's been crushing on Kyoko for over a year and it _hurt_ him to suddenly put it away. It hurt to knock down all feelings he might have had for her because, even though they weren't there now, he'd genuinely felt something for her.

"The reasons I liked her have vanished and I didn't even realize." He whispers it, like it's some sort of horrible secret. "I liked her because she was nice to me when I didn't have the friends I have now but now I have them my reasons for liking her have disappeared. Isn't it like I'm throwing my crush on her away now I have the qualities she has in my friends-"

"It isn't a crime to stop liking someone, Tsunayoshi." She cuts him off, speaking softly. "It's normal. Not that you're normal-you're extraordinary." Kahiro smiles, a tinge of awkwardness from how she clearly believes her compliment to be a little out of the blue but true nonetheless.

It makes the numbness ebb away even more and Tsuna manages a smile.


	28. Star

Realised I missed a couple of prompts by accident whOOPS

(Also 'Kyoko' readers, updating will recommence soon-final exam two days from now and then I'm frEE. And it's physics by the way :D)

-Star-

Kahiro stops going to sport practice for a couple of weeks after Tsuna's realization on the Kyoko matter.

Instead of doing what she clearly loves so dearly, she spends her new free time in the cafe with Tsuna practically every day after school, making it her business to make him smile and laugh.

Tsuna voices his displeasure at his friend's decision to spend time with him instead of doing what she loved multiple times, desperately trying to crush his secret feelings of joy that she was serving as a distraction from the numb feeling in his chest that still hadn't gone away.

Kahiro always waves off his comments with an easy laugh, prodding him in the shoulder and saying it was good to have a break from sports once in a while.

(He always sees her shooting a brief wistful look at the sports field when they leave school together though, replaced with guilt when she looks back at him).

In these couple of weeks, they're usually accompanied by Yamamoto and Gokudera too (who he sees casting looks of worry at him because of how down he looks sometimes), but often Kahiro and Tsuna stay in the cafe longer than them, spending these moments alone to talk about Kyoko and what has happened.

Tsuna suspects they know Kahiro knows what's up with him, which is why they usually leave before them so that they can talk. Their reaction is surprising though since he'd thought they'd be the ones trying to extract the information most-Reborn most likely had something to do with it, he decided.

"I thought her smile was like the Sun." Tsuna tells Kahiro as they sit without Gokudera and Yamamoto again. He's sure he's told her this a thousand times before but Kahiro never seems to mind or ever lessen in attention to his words. "If I look at it now though it just seems...normal. Dim." He elaborates.

"Well, the Sun isn't that bright a star you know." Kahiro responds, taking another sip of her coffee. They're both practically drunk on the stuff now, which is perhaps why Tsuna's tongue is so loose and he's saying things he's said before so many times.

He blinks. "It isn't?"

"Come on Tsunayoshi, we've got a physics test soon!" She laughs and pushes herself off of her chair, opening up her bag and grabbing a book out of it. The girl then positions herself on the arm of Tsuna's armchair, leaning over so that she can show him the contents of the book. "The Sun is a typical star, see?"

He can smell the coffee on her breath as she speaks, her shoulder touching his lightly.

"Just because it's closer it seems brighter. Stars further away however seem dimmer just because of the distance when some actually have a higher luminosity. The luminosity depends on the size and temperature of the star by the way." Her eyes meet his. "Do you know about Cepheid variables?"

"Uh...I think so?"

She cocks an eyebrow.

"...No..."

Kahiro laughs, full of fondness and free of judgement. "I'll send you my notes on it later." Patting him on the shoulder sympathetically, she returns to her armchair, sliding the book back into her bag. "So, Tsunayoshi, don't feel bad about viewing her smile as not being so bright anymore." Her ability to drag the conversation back to what it was before never ceases to take him aback slightly. "She's still a star and her smile is still like one even if it doesn't seem so bright anymore to you."

Tsuna likes the way she speaks about Kyoko. She doesn't encourage him to go further than his loss of crush into dislike of the girl, nor does she encourage him to look at all her good points again and rethink his decision.

She talks about Kyoko like she is.

"Instead, think about how you're a star!" Kahiro grins and there's a teasing lilt to her voice, like she knows she's speaking to him in the same language a teacher would talk to a young student.

"You're ridiculous." He manages to reply, unable to stop the tug on his lips, cradling his mug in his hands.

She puts a hand to her heart dramatically. "You're meant to say that I'm a star too!"

He's not quite brave enough to say back that she's a far brighter star than Kyoko was in his eyes.


	29. Goal

Sad music fluff writing again huehuehue

-Goal-

Tsuna had gone there to cheer.

It was how Kahiro invited him in the first place:

" _I've got a match with the football club on Friday and I need some cheerleaders so are you prepared to come with other people?"_

 _Tsuna holds his phone to his ear awkwardly with his shoulder, hand preoccupied with pulling Lambo away from a sweet jar in the kitchen. "Um, I think I can come?"_

" _Great! I expect acrobatics, cheerleader uniforms with skirts and pompoms!"_

" _Kahiro, I refuse to arrange such things for you." Tsuna winces at Lambo's loud shriek of 'I WANT IT NOW'._

" _Tsunayoshi, you're meant to be my supportive friend!" Kahiro whines into the phone, but he can already see her in his mind's eye grinning from ear to ear._

" _Not supportive enough to crossdress."_

" _Yet."_

" _Kahiro!"_

He'd managed to get Yamamoto, Ryohei and Gokudera to come and be 'cheerleaders' too. (Although the last ended up screaming at everyone to do boxing instead of football so it wasn't exactly supportive.)

When he'd seen Kahiro lined up on the pitch he'd responded to her small wave and grin with a wave and smile of his own, resolve made to cheer loudly alongside everyone else.

But when the match had started his cheers had died in his throat.

Kahiro _glides_ across the pitch. She dances around the defenders and all her movements seem so fluid compared to what he looked like when he tried football. And yes, it's clear she isn't the best one there (although she's in the top three) but her facial expression just makes her the centre of attention.

She's smiling. Laughing breathlessly. Eyes alight with sheer glee.

Every now and then her expression sharpens and it's almost scary how she can switch from being so laidback to becoming almost a tiger and implement her next strategy in the blink of an eye. Then it changes back and she's overjoyed again.

She looks so in love with life. It's as if every step she takes with the wind clawing at her body makes her happier than the last and running makes it all the better.

Tsuna can't even make a sound. He's too busy staring, transfixed by her.

She makes another dash down the pitch. The ball isn't in her possession and she calls for it just as someone tries to block her way. Kahiro darts left and then sprints full out to the left, just brushing past her opponent. The ball reaches her and she swings her foot back before making contact. It sails through the air-

"GOAL!" Ryohei roars alongside the crowd, eyes burning with passion. "YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY JOIN THE BOXING CLUB WITH THOSE SKILLS!"

Kahiro's entire team rushes over and she's engulfed in quick hugs before they all run back to position. She jogs towards him and her eyes are glazed with pure, unadulterated exhilaration. His mouth opens and his voice momentarily reappears. "You're _amazing_."

She's unbalanced for a split second and turns to look at him, wide eyes meeting his that are full of wonderment and awe of her. Then, her lips stretch into a huge grin and it's like his compliment has made her happier than anything else.


	30. School

Haha my secondary school life will be over tomorrow after my last exam :D

-School-

Somehow, without quite knowing how they'd progressed to becoming messaging buddies, Tsuna finds himself now taking part in long phone calls with Kahiro instead.

He lies on his bed in a strange position, legs stretched so that they're leaning against the wall and cushion on his chest that he holds to him with one arm, periodically throwing it into the air and catching it.

" _Oh I hated that teacher. His wig caught on fire on a bunsen burner once which was hilarious though. You should've_ _ **been**_ _there Tsunayoshi!"_ Kahiro's laughs drift from his phone to his ear and Tsuna briefly wonders whether you can get addicted to a laugh because his days are significantly worse when he doesn't hear them.

"I just used to hate teachers and school in general." He admits, tossing the cushion up in the air again.

" _Used to but then you discovered the joys of my presence in your life."_ Mock arrogance fills her voice.

"Of course." Tsuna rolls his eyes but he's smiling fondly all the same. "I did really hate it though. Used to skip all of the time."

" _Tut tut, now where's your consideration for your education young man?"_ It's said lightly, without real judgement. _"I used to skip school too-accidentally though."_

Tsuna raises his eyebrows, surprised. "Accidentally skipped school?"

" _I used to get up early and go running and then lose track of time so that by the time I got back it was too late to go in_. _"_

"Oh my god, _Kahiro!_ "

" _Shushshsh I was young and stupid-"_

"But how can you end up doing that?!" He's full out laughing at her confession-it's so _ridiculous_.

" _Don't tell anyone, I can't lose my street cred!"_

"What street cred?"

A gasp. _"Dude my gang will mess you up if you say that again!_ "

His laughter gets louder. "I can't believe you skipped school by accident though!"

" _Tsunayoshi it's a secret, don't go yelling it!"_

Tsuna keeps laughing as an image of Kahiro running through Namimori appears in his mind, laughter subsiding a little when he imagines how her eyes were probably cast upwards at the sky, so enamoured with it that she lost track of everything around her. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He tells her, image still clear in his head.


	31. Religion

HEY GUESS WHO HAS FINISHED ALL THEIR GCSEs?

*Screeches happily*

-Religion-

Kahiro doesn't usually spend all her time with Tsuna and his group of friends during school.

A big chunk of her time is spent socializing with a huge range of people, rushing this way and that in order to do so. Although, Tsuna can see the balance slowly shifting towards him, see how that everyday Kahiro's cutting down her time doing that in order to hang around him instead.

However, it's this period of time where she is with other people which allows him to notice something.

Kahiro's practically _worshipped_ by everyone.

It's in a very different way to how Kyoko is idolized with her pretty looks and smile. Instead, everyone is trying desperately to get on Kahiro's good side and find a semblance of friendship in her.

He notices this when she's chatting with a few classmates and his eyes have wandered accidentally over to her again. Tsuna doesn't know what they're talking about but it's the mention of his nickname 'no-good Tsuna' that reaches his ears from one of the people talking to his friend.

Kahiro's eyes flash with displeasure at the boy who has spoken, a silent message of unhappiness at what he has said. That he can understand happening (his heart swells with slight happiness at her defense of him all the same however) but what happens afterwards is...surprising.

"Hey! Don't say that about him!" A girl lightly smacks the boy on the arm. "He's Kahiro's friend, _remember_?"

The girl who has spoken is the same girl he'd heard complaining about him bringing down the class's average in tests that very same morning.

Kahiro smiles a little at the girl's defense of her friend and the girl looks immensely pleased with herself.

Scenarios like this happen again and again after this. People saying things that Kahiro wouldn't like when she isn't around and them doing a full 180 when she is.

Everyone strives to be the one specifically making her happy-for the purpose of being her friend, Tsuna realizes.

And of course, why wouldn't people want to be her friend? She is one of the popular kids, knowing anyone and everyone, and, beyond that, her smiles and laughs are things to be coveted.

In that way, she is like a god to them all. If she is pleased with you then you'd be more likely to hang out with her more often and have her refer to you as a friend, the reward people desired. If she is not, you'd be denied it.

But this reasoning is also why the range of emotions shared between these friends and her are so small.

Gods aren't meant to have flaws. Kahiro isn't meant to have flaws.

People wanted her to be this happy, smiley girl who could help make their school lives that much better. People didn't please her so that she could try and convey the full spectrum of emotions she had with them.

Of course, the situation isn't so simple as so to be explained with what Tsuna has conjured up in his head with Kahiro being likened to a god and everyone worshipping her being somewhat poisonous (they aren't), but it is the situation stripped down to its bare bones, which is why he never has commented on her drawing back on her vibrant social life to join his instead.


	32. Knight

My friend's birthday today ayye happy birthday bro

-Knight-

"Damn it, I forgot to get a drink!" Kahiro curses, making everyone on the roof look at her. Yamamoto is standing near to her, leaning against the wall whilst she leans against the railings around the edge of the roof. Tsuna and Gokudera on the other hand are sitting on the ground, still eating Yamamoto's sushi.

"You can have some of mine if you want." Yamamoto offers but she laughs sheepishly.

"Nah, I need a full bottle for after school. Doing basketball." She pushes herself off of the railing, stretching. "Think the canteen will still be open?"

Gokudera snorts. "Doubt it. You'd have to sprint there."

Kahiro flashes a grin. "I do athletics, remember?" Waving a goodbye, she opens and jogs through the door leading to the stairs. Suddenly, the trio sees her foots slip at the top step and she squeaks before vanishing, a loud thud sounding a few moments later.

Tsuna is at the top of the stairs first as he was closest, Gokudera and Yamamoto close behind with eyes wide with concern. "Kahiro, are you okay?!

The girl in question sits at the bottom of the staircase, hair a mess and one leg looking as though it's twisted painfully underneath her, ankle already swelling. She looks more surprised than anything and turns towards them with equally wide eyes. "...That wasn't fun."

They all rush downstairs as she tries to position herself in a more comfortable position, wincing as a result of her leg. "You need to go to the infirmary!" Tsuna's face is slightly pale in worry for her but she smiles at him reassuringly. But, before she can speak, she's cut off.

"Tsuna, it's your fault, you take her."

"Wha- _Reborn!_ " Tsuna looks as though he's nearly had a heart attack, the infant having appeared by his side without warning. "And how exactly is it my fault-"

"Don't ask questions. Gokudera, Takeshi, let's have coffee whilst Tsuna sorts this out."

Tsuna shoots a look that scream 'traitor' at the backs of the two boys who shoot him apologetic looks back before following Reborn's order.

After all, one does not simply go against Reborn without expecting consequences.

Sighing, he turns back to Kahiro who still seems a little dazed. He can't exactly try and have it so he carries her on his back-her arms look a little bruised so it's not certain she'd be able to hang on. And slinging an arm around his shoulder and helping her to hop along doesn't seem like too good an idea either.

So he picks her up with his arms instead, apologizing nervously when she winces as he loops one arm underneath her legs. Kahiro, in all her obvious pain, clearly hasn't lost her good humour and laughs at how he's carrying her. "My knight in shining armour!" She announces as he carries her to the infirmary, his cheeks already burning from the stares they're getting.

" _Kahiro_!" He whispers harshly, dying from embarrassment.

(However, he lives up to the description she's given him when he gives a look that promises murder to Shamal if he tries to do anything funny to the girl who is still laughing in his arms.)


	33. Light

-Light-

Her ankle is sprained from the fall down stairs.

She smiles and laughs to everyone around her, insisting that she doesn't mind the injury at all. She jokes about it, makes it a light hearted thing- " _Never got down stairs quicker y'know!"_ she says over and over again, making people shake their heads and smile at her ridiculous positivity.

He sees how she looks over at the school track and field though. He hears how every now and then she starts to say she's heading off to club but then looks down and remembers the injury she has acquired. Her smiles are strained and laughter forced, no longer bright. It's painful to see Kahiro sitting on the sidelines during PE, this quiet look of bitter longing to be running around and taking the place of all of the people complaining about the exercise.

But Kahiro's a good liar to everyone, even him at times.

 _I'm handling it._

 _Yeah, I wish I was out there but I'll live._

 _It's not really that big of a deal._

They're all heading to Tsuna's house after school when he properly sees through everything she's saying. Reborn pops his head round a corner and informs them all that Bianchi is cooking food and everyone is about it eat it, making Gokudera pale and sprint off ahead, yelling that he cannot allow his beloved tenth's mother to die from such a horrific thing. Yamamoto runs after him, not understanding the gravity of the situation and laughing as he sprints.

Tsuna is about to run too, horror seeping into his veins at the prospect of Bianchi killing everyone. He then sees Kahiro standing beside him almost awkwardly, smiling sheepishly.

"Ah, go on ahead! I'll catch up soon."

It's horrible how he catches the lie in her final words, _I can't catch up quickly, I'm slow you know right now, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it._

"...Want a lift?" He offers it quietly and he really does despise how Kahiro's so unused to people offering her the same things she'd offer everyone else, seeing how her eyes gleam in surprise and gratitude.

"If you're offering then…" She speaks light heartedly but there's real, honest thankfulness in her tone of voice. He helps her onto his back and Kahiro laughs, one arm wrapped round his neck whilst the other points forwards. "Onwards, steed!"

"I'm not a horse Kahiro." Tsuna complains as he begins to jog, thanking god he's gotten stronger since meeting Reborn. She keeps on laughing-breathlessly now since she yells every now and then when he almost drops her. Tsuna can't help but laugh too at her shrieks if his grip on her loosens or her silly comments that refer to him as being her horse now.

It's not easy to carry her on his back whilst jogging but the weight doesn't really bother him. In fact, he feels almost lighter with every real laugh that escapes her lips.


	34. Train

Ahhh, all your compliments about Kahiro being a good OC make me just squeal happily

It's definitely you guys who are the cute ones omfg

-Train-

It has gotten worse.

No longer are their eyes drifting momentarily to one another without consciously thinking about doing so, minds instead on the things around them.

Instead they both do it with more thought-still not entirely a conscious decision but their minds now aware of where their gazes are being drawn to.

It's gotten to the point where it's dangerously distracting and all conversations they are having when it takes place crumbles indefinitely. Even conversations between themselves fall apart, minds too jumbled up to continue on.

Today is one of these days where it's the two of them who end up destroying their talk for a few moments. Kahiro's leant against another desk and chatting to him as he himself half leans, half sits upon his own. She's telling another tale-god knows how she even knows such fabulous stories that entrance all those listening-and he's unable to stop laughter from escaping his lips. Of course, she laughing right along with him, out of breath constantly with giggles accompanying almost every sentence.

His eyes linger on her face. Her cheeks are slightly flushed and her eyes are sparkling, as per usual. He's never noticed how her cheekbones are quite high however, giving an almost elegant shape to her face. It's always so strange that she managed to mix elements of elegance in with her scruffy image but Tsuna finds it somewhat pleasing to the eye now. His eyes slowly fall down the curve of her neck and her sees a chain glinting slightly, the top of a familiar necklace poking out from underneath her collar.

He'd had something to say earlier, he is certain of it, but that train of thought has gone, replaced by the need to imprint every detail of Kahiro into his mind: the outline of her jaw, the length of her eyelashes, the shape of her lips as she forms words, laughs or smiles. It's overwhelming and his head spins as she leans towards him slightly, fingers grazing the top of the desk she's leaning against.

"Tsunayoshi?"

The boy feels his whole face heat up and his eyes meet hers again, Kahiro's filled with slight bemusement but empathy as she'd done the same the day before, analysing the shape of his cheekbones, the warm colour of his eyes, the way his adam's apple moves as he speaks or laughs.

"Sorry- um, I just...sorry!" Tsuna waves his hands in front of him, words a jumble in his mouth and hard to spit out in the correct order. He hasn't heard the last part of the story, the important section he had wanted to hear but was too distracted to do so. It's difficult to ask her now to repeat herself without making a fool of himself and he inwardly groans at his lapse in thought.

She never minds how their earlier conversations fall to pieces as a result of this, like how he never minds how she also ruins them with her own apologies for not paying attention and absorbed shock at how easily distracted she was.

You see, it's hard to when the other person later finds themselves absent-mindedly or unintentionally complimenting one of their features they had earlier noticed in their analysis.


	35. Contest

Note about this chapter: the Katie thing is a real idea my old PE teacher came up with when I did netball. We did it once-utterly _hilarious._

-Contest-

Kahiro's house is big.

Tsuna doesn't quite know why he expected this-perhaps he thought so because his friend would be more comfortable in a spacious environment where she could run around?

He ponders this as she slips down from his back and fumbles with her keys, hopping about on one foot. She's almost recovered from her sprain and you can tell with how the energy she's kept pent up inside is slowly leaking out and she just _can't_ stay still. Even when he was giving her a piggy-back she'd been fidgeting constantly, drumming out rhythms on his shoulders at one point as her legs swung in time.

They'd actually been heading round to the baseball centre Yamamoto adored (Kahiro could at least practice swinging a bat there and get some of that energy out of her) when she'd remembered she'd forgotten her money at home. Reborn had then made his sudden appearance again and offered-(in his place-to help her to her house and then to the baseball centre so it'd all go quicker.

It wasn't that he minded helping Kahiro out but for god's sake, Yamamoto was willing and stronger than him!

The door finally unlocked, Kahiro bursts in, practically kicking her shoes off and half walking, half hopping to the staircase. Tsuna follows but with less urgency, slipping his shoes off carefully and following after her when she gestured for him to do so. Scouring his eyes over the interior of the house, he spies a trophy on a table in the entrance, glinting a little. There's a medal hung over the stair post and his fingers brush the material which holds it up.

Kahiro, even with her injured ankle, limps up the stairs with practiced ease and speed, Tsuna making a noise of distress when she looked as though she were about to slip however. There's another small table at the top and, accompanying a vase of flowers, lies another trophy-this time it's made of glass and he sees Kahiro's name etched into it.

Before he can see what it says, Kahiro's already moving on and pushing open a door that could be to nothing but her bedroom. It's a blue that he supposes was meant to be calming but instead looks vibrant as it peeks out from the gaps between pictures and the couple of bookcases. There's a big open space in the middle of the room and to the side lies a small pile of presumably dirty clothes, practically embodying the scruffy side to Kahiro in amidst small flashes of elegance.

He sees more medals in here but they're dotted around. It's not as though they aren't cared for, instead looking as though they're kept in pristine condition, but they aren't in simply one area. Tsuna touches the metal of one, ghosting his fingers over the words that have been stamped onto it. Kahiro, having found her wallet in a trainer of all things, sees this and grins. "I got that a few years back for a basketball tournament! Oh I remember the captain of the team I was on was crazy as they come but, honestly, her insane plans always worked and it was _great!_ There was this time where she suggested we all pretend our names were Katie and you should've _seen_ our opponents' faces when we were all screaming 'Katie, to me' and 'Katie, over here'!"

Her eyes are bright with amusement and nostalgia and, almost light headed from the glint, Tsuna finds himself asking about a trophy on her desk.

"That one was for sports-girl of the year." She picks it up with care and fondness. "My old PE teacher and I knew each other really well with all my time spent in the department so he wrote over the year part before presenting it to me." Kahiro tilts it so Tsuna can look at the black marker pen reading 'universe'.

"You've got a lot of medals and trophies." He speaks softly, in complete awe.

She laughs. "I don't get so many now. People are getting specialised in the sports they love and, since I'm still club hopping, it means I'm getting overtaken. Natural talent doesn't beat hard work." She speaks with honesty and sheepishness. "Honestly, people tell me all the time I should settle down and do one thing but I just…"

"Why? Why is it you need to settle down?" He elaborates at the look of confusion in her eyes. He thinks about the medals and trophies littered around the place, loved dearly by her but not in some sort of trophy cabinet where most people would put them. Tsuna knows Kahiro doesn't do sport for the sake of reaching a goal-she doesn't do it for the mountains of praise accompanied by the medals and trophies. They're markers of achievement yes and she's utterly thrilled with them but she doesn't demand people to notice them. Instead, when they're noticed, she tells stories about the memories they conjure up for her.

She treats them like they're presents, gifts from a loved one, and has them around so she can look upon them with fondness at random points in the day.

Sport and athletics aren't contests for her. They aren't things she must be the best at, aren't things she must utterly thrash everyone else at. They're simply _fun_ , simply things she does because she falls in love with the excitement they give her. Sure, winning is great too, but it isn't _necessary_ for her to be happy.

The fact she has a natural affinity for such things is simply a bonus.

"You enjoy doing lots of things, right?"

Kahiro blinks. Then, after a pause, she smiles. "Well, when you put it _that_ way…" Placing the trophy down, she laughs again. "That PE teacher did complain though. Said I'd be formidable if I just settled down but always muttered that they'd eat their hat if I did."

Tsuna can't help but smile at how right the teacher had been.


	36. Money

Oh god, getting the giggles over stupid things with friends is hilarious when you look back on it

P.S. Kazoos are the greatest idk what you're on about search them up if you don't know what they are

-Money-

Again, Tsuna had no idea how this had escalated but, then again, with Kahiro one never does know how things will turn out.

The plan had been for him to simply return the trainers Kahiro had left at his one time after having left in a rush when her parents had texted her explaining how if she wasn't home in fifteen minutes then they'd eat all of the pizza they'd saved for her.

Now the two of them were walking down the high street, practically falling over themselves in laughter, and Tsuna has no idea at all what time it was. In Kahiro's hand she holds one of the objects of which are making them giggle so much, the girl periodically lifting it to her lips and blowing into it so it made the harsh noise it did.

Really, Tsuna is certain that if he were with anyone else it would seem utterly ridiculous that they found it so hilarious but, from the minute Kahiro had laid eyes on it in the store, he hasn't had more than a few seconds break from laughing his head off.

Kahiro almost crashes into another person on the street, grabbing onto Tsuna arm to stop herself from falling and giggling into his sleeve. "Stop laughing, you're making me laugh!" She manages to say breathlessly as they leave the high street, the boy she is clinging to almost falling over himself before raising his own kazoo and blowing into it too.

She almost chokes on her laughter again. "Tsunayoshi!" Kahiro gasps, wiping her imaginary tears away. "God, and they say money _doesn't_ bring you happiness. I got a lot out of the money I spent on this, I tell you!"

Tsuna blows on his kazoo again, making Kahiro shriek with laughter even more as he tries to stop his own. Unable to, the two end up actually falling over several times until they end up parting ways to go to their own homes.

It's when Tsuna's home that Kahiro calls him and, instead of greeting him with a hello, he gets the sound of a kazoo instead, making Reborn look at him as though he's crazy when he's having difficulty breathing through all his sniggers.

Neither of them notice till the next day that, in their enjoyment, both had forgotten about the trainers. It in fact takes them several meetings filled with ridiculous things making them act almost drunk with amusement for either to remember to hand them over.


	37. Candy

My gOD it was hot here in London yesterday

I was not amused

I was dying

-Candy-

Tsuna had gone downstairs for a few only a short while to get some drinks and snacks. However, upon his return, he found that Lambo had somehow made his way onto the table in his room and was excitedly chattering to Kahiro.

Lambo and Kahiro hadn't really had much of a formal introduction before then. Sure, there were brief moments where the toddler would rush into Tsuna's room and yell about this, that and the other but usually he was quite quickly removed from the situation-Tsuna suspected Reborn had something to do with this. He always did.

His immediate thought was that to take Lambo away from Kahiro immediately before the child did something too drastic but he hesitates. The girl isn't exactly interacting with Lambo in the same manner as all his friends do so. She isn't gushing over him like Haru or Kyoko, neither is playing with him and laughing at everything he says like Yamamoto, and she definitely isn't ignoring or being intensely irritated his very existence like practically everyone else.

Kahiro's patient-surprisingly so. She's listening to everything Lambo is saying and replying to him not quite with adult speech but less with almost patronizing words. When Lambo says something in arrogance she doesn't really put him down but she looks at him and says 'well put your money where your mouth is'. And it's almost other worldly how Lambo's thrilled with her response as she isn't simply nodding her head and taking his word for it or dismissing him with a roll of her eyes. She's telling him to show her why he's the best without making any signs of having made a judgement herself already as to whether he is.

His first claim was that of being best at spinning tops and Tsuna watches from the door as Lambo grabs a spinning top from his afro and makes loud noises as he makes the toy go. When Kahiro then raises and eyebrow and says 'you aren't half bad', Lambo's eyes shine because it's said with complete honesty. Her laugh following his assertion of her being correct makes the boy seem even more blisteringly happy (Kahiro's laugh has always had that effect on people though and Tsuna really does wonder whether it's possible to get addicted to a sound).

Nana calls Lambo down then and he leaves waving goodbye to the girl who waves back, Tsuna entering his room soon afterwards. Kahiro turns her smile onto him and there's a brief moment of analysing her features again-the curve of her nose, the colour of her lips, the way her eyes are focused on him-before he catches himself and puts the tray of snacks and drinks down. "Took too long, Tsunayoshi. I've already been served!" She lifts up a couple of pieces of candy and she speaks with a teasing tone.

Later that evening, Lambo tugs on Tsuna's sleeve and asks when Kahiro will next come over.

* * *

After note: Patience, in my experience, is often the key thing to making children like you. Sometimes I wish I had less so I could escape looking after them whoops.


	38. Oil

I love writing a character that thinks Tsuna is just the bees knees

Because he is so precious ugh

-Oil-

"God, most good trainers cost so much!" Kahiro whines as the exit the store, Tsuna close behind her and carrying his own bag with new trainers inside. Reborn had ordered he get new ones after his old ones got blown up in the name of 'education' in a tutoring session and Kahiro, in need of new ones too, had gone with him. "My old trainers were so good and cheap too!"

"You never did tell me how you managed to accidentally catch the old ones on fire." The brunet poorly stifles a laugh at her look of half defense, half intense guilt.

"It wasn't my fault! How was I meant to know that my dad was starting a barbeque when I made a bet that I could throw them over the house?"

Tsuna can't fight back the next wave of laughter. "You _what?!_ "

She opens her mouth to further argue her case, unable to stop herself smiling however at the stupidity of the situation anyway, when Kahiro suddenly sees her friend's eyes change. Following his gaze, she blinks. "Isn't that Hibar-"

"Oh _god._ " Tsuna groans and rushes towards the two teenagers he's spotted, Kahiro following with a bemused look on her face.

"You are trespassing on _my_ turf, herbivore."

"Kufufu~ I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you owned all of Namimori."

There's thick tension in the air and Kahiro spies people hurrying away from the scene, murmuring about there being a fight about to break out. Tsuna's of course jogging into the slap bang middle of it, looking both slightly exasperated and worried. "Hibari-san, Mukuro!" The two boys snap their heads around, Kahiro briefly considering hanging back because god, they really do look like they're going to go for each other's necks. She continues on though as if Tsuna ever needed moral support it would be now. "You can't fight here!"

It's surprising to see these two boys look at Tsuna with almost begrudging respect and it only reinforces Kahiro's belief that Tsuna's got a whole vault load of secrets in that brain of his. What's even more surprising though is this change on Tsuna's voice; no longer is it the gentle, friendly tones she's used to but it's commanding, bordering even on fierce.

Hibari's eyes narrow after a short period. "I can fight wherever I like." He declares, turning his attention back onto the blue haired boy Kahiro presumes is this 'Mukuro' character.

"Why shouldn't we?" Mukuro asks with an amused glint to his eyes, his gaze flicking to Kahiro briefly with a smile that definitely does not offer a simple pleasant greeting. "Will it ruin your date, Decimo?"

She expects Tsuna to fluster about like he does when she teases him light heartedly-it's easy pickings when it comes to him-but instead he tilts his head to look at her, eyebrows furrowed with concern, before stepping backwards towards her in practically a defensive stance. "People could get hurt." He speaks with this firmness that's just so not Tsuna but at the same time most definitely is as Kahiro knows he's a leader outside the classroom. He's a leader of this group of his and his word is _final._

"Oh? Will you stop us then?" The blue haired boy questions.

Tsuna doesn't reply vocally this time but he gently places a hand on Kahiro's arm as if ready to either push her out of harm's way or pull her to safety if need be. The look on his face must've been fierce too because the two boys are hesitating, bloodlust from earlier slowly but surely dissipating.

"...Ah well, it's no fun if you're just going to stop us." Mukuro concedes first, shooting one last grin at Hibari. "We shall continue this another time then."

Hibari looks far from placated but Tsuna's head moves so this fierce look he must be wearing is pointed in his direction, the raven haired teenager putting his tonfas away when Mukuro leaves. "Herbivore, you owe me a fight." He declares to Tsuna, then turning on his heel and leaving.

It takes a minute or so before Tsuna withdraws his hand from Kahiro's arm and turns to face her, sheepish smile on his face and his strong presence simply vanishing into thin air. "Sorry about that, they just go really wild when they fight…" He trails off, shuddering at a memory.

"That was incredible, Tsunayoshi." She can't find it in her to say her compliment as loud as she wants to, mind still reeling a little from what had just happened. "You just...you're a _master_ at pouring oil over troubled waters. And those were some seriously troubled waters."

His cheeks burn the slightest pink. "Ah, no, usually I can't persuade them at all to stop fighting and calm down. I just got a little lucky this time!" Tsuna almost looks away in his embarrassment but spies the look in Kahiro's eyes before he does. She's in awe, it's blindingly obvious by the shine to her eyes and how her attention is solely on him-not the rest of the world she becomes more enamoured with every day she's alive but _him_.

"You don't just get _lucky_ when it comes to stopping Hibari Kyoya from fighting someone-he's a fighting machine." She makes it sound so obvious that he's done something impressive, that he _is_ impressive, and there's that hint to her voice at well saying 'but of course he'd be that impressive, he's _Sawada Tsunayoshi_ '.

Tsuna loves his friends. They've helped him to be more comfortable with who he was, to view himself as an honest to god good person, to make himself realize that his nickname 'no-good Tsuna' didn't accurately define him as a person.

But Kahiro just takes it further than that and, when she compliments him like this with this look of amazement coupled with sheer wonder that she's stood right next to him, Tsuna loves the parts of him for making her look at him like that.


	39. Flight

I've actually gotten pretty far in these prompts whoa go me

-Flight-

"And so- wait, where did Kahiro go?" Tsuna cuts off mid sentence, looking behind himself in confusion. He's certain the girl was there when him, Gokudera and Yamamoto had entered through his front gate but now they were inside his kitchen she was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, there's a shout that sounds suspiciously like Bianchi. "Oh no, she's fallen out of the window!"

Looking towards the window of the kitchen, Tsuna almost has a heart attack when he sees Kahiro suddenly falling through the air. " _Kahiro_!" He's first outside, eyes wide and fear gripping him as he races towards where he thought she fell only to see her...bouncing upwards again?

"Since when did you have a trampoline, Tsunayoshi?!" The girl asks breathlessly as she jumps again, grinning madly.

"You...b-but I…" Tsuna looks upwards to see Bianchi and Reborn looking off into the distance innocently from his bedroom window. _Oh my god, I cannot believe them sometimes…!_

Kahiro somersaults in mid-air this time, Lambo and and I-pin both gasping in amazement. "Lambo-san can do that too!" The toddler protests and suddenly he's on another trampoline with I-pin and Tsuna's wondering where on earth all these trampolines have come from.

(Probably Reborn. It's usually his fault.)

"Tenth, I can do that too!" Gokudera informs him, thinking Tsuna is impressed by Kahiro's display of acrobatics (which he is to be truthful), and rushes onto a trampoline too. Then Yamamoto joins in and of course suddenly they're all jumping about, some with more grace (Kahiro) than others (Tsuna).

About ten minutes in, the boy is suddenly grabbed by Kahiro and she pulls him to her side, eyes glittering with intense joy and slight mischievous glee. "You've got to do this with me- jump!" She then turns her head and shouts. Tsuna follows her gaze just in time to see Bianchi, Reborn and Yamamoto all jumping onto the other side of the trampoline and it sends them flying high into the air. He squeaks and grabs onto her for dear life as she laughs and grasps onto him too.

There's a brief moment in this period of which they're airborne that Tsuna looks at her properly and sees how much she's in love with the wind pulling at her hair and the slightly closer view of the sky she has and this thrill, this exhilaration of being off the ground.

He wants nothing more in this moment to be in his HDWM and to be able to keep them hanging in midair or fly even higher so that look on Kahiro's face will last longer.

They then crash back to earth and their bodies bounce a few times on the trampoline before stilling. Kahiro's breathless laughter is contagious and the two can't stop their giggles as they lie in a heap. Reborn then causes them to fall off the trampoline by getting everyone to jump a few times, Tsuna falling first and accidentally dragging Kahiro with him.

Even with the bruises he gets, Tsuna's too giddy with happiness to complain.


	40. Fake

Tsuna you cutie patootie

-Fake-

She's surrounded.

People are everywhere she looks, chattering, smiling, looking at her with some sort of expectation in their eyes. And it's suffocating as she sits there, feeling almost as if she's some piece of entertainment as they wait for her to act with bated breath.

Tsuna sees her from across the classroom, eyes momentarily slipping to her position, and, for a split second, all he sees is his friend stranded on the island that is her chair and surrounded by sharks ready to eat her up the minute she made a bid for freedom. It's that which makes her smile look so out of place-why on _earth_ would anyone be smiling when they've been cornered by bloodthirsty animals?

They aren't sharks though, they're classmates simply conversing with Kahiro, vying for her attention when she looks like she doesn't want any of it right now. But she's pretending she doesn't mind, feigning the usual happiness and joy at life itself as though it's an obligation of hers to be so at any given moment. Tsuna can almost hear her thoughts- _I shouldn't let my unhappiness inconvenience others, they don't want to hear or see it so I should just ignore how I feel-_ and it feels sickening to watch his vibrant friend fake it all so perfectly as if she's waiting for her bursts of laughter to feel more real to her.

"Kahiro!" He calls her name, trying to ignore the looks he's getting because he doesn't know how else to offer her an escape other than calling her over.

Her eyes meet his and there's that moment of hesitation and surprise at how he's giving her a way out (he'll never get used to how, even with all these friends she has, she's so unused to people helping her like this). Then she takes his offer and throws about some apologies before making a break for it. Standing up, he murmurs that he'll be back in a bit to Yamamoto and Gokudera and walks out of the classroom with Kahiro.

Wordlessly, they move to the roof and it's only up there that Tsuna speaks. "You don't need to fake any smiles around me, Kahiro." His voice is soft and comforting. "What's wrong?"

"It doesn't matter, honestly Tsunayoshi." She says quietly, as if it's embarrassing to talk about it. "I just woke up and felt a little gloomy, that's all. It's nothing, I'm probably just tired. "

He looks her in the eyes, feeling almost horrified by her response. "Of course it matters! If you're unhappy then it _matters_ to me. And, even if it is nothing like you say it is, then that _nothing_ matters too."

There's a few moments where she's taken aback before she smiles (and it's not fake this time, it's real even if it is small) and gives him a tight hug. Tsuna almost squeaks in surprise and stumbles a little but raises his arms to hug her too, patting her back awkwardly. "You're awesome Tsunayoshi and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She mumbles into his shoulder, not seeming to care about his slight embarrassment.

"T-thanks…"


	41. Apple

Funny story about apples: I once drew an apple as the pupil of an eye for an art thing and a load of people went "I don't get it" until I said "the apple of my eye" and then they all quietly whispered " _oh"._

Fun times

(Also Kahiro smooth af)

-Apple-

"Why didn't you stop me?!"

Tsuna blinks, hand still on the doorknob after having pushed the bedroom door open. His eyes go to where the source of the whining voice has come from but he only sees a duvet all folded in on itself. "Um...hello?" He calls out tentatively.

The duvet suddenly moves and a face pops out from in between the folds, the brunet almost having a heart attack. " _Tsunayoshiiiiiii_!" Kahiro whines, sniffling a little.

"Kahiro, don't scare me like that!" Tsuna breathes out in relief after the realization it was only his friend, not some sort of mafioso villain that has come to kill him yet again. He closes the door behind him and makes his way over to the duvet covered form. When close enough however, he gets pulled into a hug where it feels as though the duvet is trying to consume him. " _K-Kahiro!_ " He squeaks as she clings to him and sighs miserably.

"You should've told me jumping in the river would result in this! I've got a fever one minute and then I'm freezing cold the next!"

"You jumped in the river without warning and- _I'm falling!_ " Tsuna flails his limbs about only to have Kahiro slip out of his duvet cocoon and have to manoeuvre her _gift_ in his arms.

She collapses onto her bed and makes dying noises. "It's not fair that you got out fine whilst I suffer. _Suffer!"_

Freeing himself of the duvet, Tsuna only just resists the urge to sigh in exasperation at her. "You dragged me in!"

"I _fell_ in by accident."

"You did a somersault!"

"It was a very dramatic fall."

"You jumped in on purpose!"

" _Shushhhh."_ She presses her hand into his face and pushes him away slightly, ignoring his spluttering. "I'm ill."

Tsuna groans, trying to scowl when she grins teasingly at him but unable to stay angry when he knows she knows she's being utterly ridiculous. "How long until you'll be able to go back to school?"

"I'm dying and all you can think about is school? Tsunayoshi, how could you!" She puts her hand to her heart, ruining her look of betrayal by giggling. "A couple of days probably. What, am I missed?"

"Gokudera-kun started arranging a party. And not a get well soon one."

"What a charmer." She laughs aloud as he places his hand on her forehead, withdrawing it almost immediately.

"Kahiro, you're burning hot!"

"You're not too bad yourself, Tsunayoshi."

"Wha _-Kahiro!_ " He hopes his face isn't as red as hers is from her fever. "R-really, I don't think your temperature is normal."

"We're all born unique."

"Oh my _god_." Tsuna puts his hands over his face and fights the urge to smile when she starts laughing again. Her laugh feels even more raw now she's ill and unable to hold back in the slightest and it's downright _debilitating_ to hear it right now, especially since he hasn't seen her for a couple of days. It is the absence that makes it so difficult to resist; he can't believe still that a simple laugh can sound so incredible and have such an impact.

Sitting down by her side, he takes a second before speaking again. "You should see a doctor."

"No can do." She doesn't continue until he looks at her and she beams, eyes bright with fever and joy. "I had an apple today. They'll be running away from me y'know."

"...Kahiro, _no_."

He can't help smiling at her when that golden laughter hits him though.


	42. Boot

-Boot-

Tsuna sees them the next time he visits her.

A momentary lapse in concentration leads to his eyes wandering and spying them in the corner of the room. Small, worn football boots lie there, far too tiny for Kahiro's feet (which are currently swinging about as she animatedly tells him about the time she kicked a tennis ball into a teacher's face accidentally).

"Why do you have those?" He asks in honest curiosity and she cuts off her story to follow his gaze, a noise of realization leaving her mouth.

"Oh, _those_. They're my first football boots!" She jumps out of bed to fetch them, picking them up with care and a fond smile on her face. "God, that's a wave of nostalgia I'm getting." Kahiro shows them to him, the mismatching laces standing out to him against the faded black material. "I think I got them when I was eight or something? Maybe younger?"

Tsuna's fingers ghost the football boots that Kahiro is holding so delicately; it's as if they're worth millions to her when they're simply shoes. "Why do you keep them?"

A short, sheepish laugh. "Its a weird reason."

He raises an eyebrow. "You don't usually have normal reasons for things, Kahiro."

She huffs dramatically before continuing, staring lovingly down at the football boots in her hands. "Okay, so one of my clearest memories from when I was younger was running around in the finals of this football tournament wearing these things and thinking 'I could do this for the rest of my life'." Her eyes glitter as she speaks, as if remembering the event in real time. "The adrenaline rush was just incredible and I felt on top of the world. Like I could do anything. It wasn't even the football part that I liked so much, I think it was just the moving around and- it was just great." She finishes lamely, looking back at him with a slightly hesitant smile.

"That's not weird." Tsuna replies almost without thinking, struggling to find the words to come after that once he's realized what he's done. "I-I mean, it's a memory you want to keep, right?"

The smile becomes brighter. "Yeah. You...You _get_ things, Tsunayoshi." She then adds after a moment of thought.

His eyebrows furrow in slight confusion. "What did I get?"

A real, honestly happy laugh escapes her lips and suddenly she's encased him in a hug, only laughing harder at his squawks of surprise at her sudden action. "I forget sometimes how _fantastic_ you are, Tsunayoshi." Kahiro sighs happily into his neck and her breath on his skin automatically makes him turn red, patting her awkwardly on the back.

"Thanks…" A pause. "Kahiro, are you going to let go of me?"

"Nope."

"Ah."


	43. Pest

-Pest-

"Am...am I a pest to you, Tsunayoshi?"

The question comes at him out of left field, Tsuna freezing in surprise and accidentally pouring the sugar in his spoon onto the table instead of his mug. " _Pardon_?" He stares at her with wide eyes, certain he's heard her wrong.

Kahiro sits on an armchair opposite him in the cafe, Gokudera and Yamamoto having left earlier. Her arms are curled around her body slightly, giving the impression she's hugging herself. "I...I was talking to some classmates and they were chatting about how sometimes stuff just gets them down so I started talking about what can get me down and…" She hesitates and sighs before shooting him a smile. "No, it doesn't matter, forget I said anything."

Tsuna frowns. "Kahiro, what happened?"

"I was just going on too much about myself, honestly, it's stupid now I think about it." She laughs but it's a trembling sound, like she's embarrassed by herself.

 _Ah._ Tsuna can imagine what happened now. An image came to his mind of Kahiro showing a weaker part of herself to one of her friends and people not liking how it juxtaposed with their view of her. She is the happy one, the smiling popular girl who is meant to make you feel great when spending time with her, not try and lean on you back.

And now she's doubting herself, doubting the times she shares her insecurities with Tsuna and whether he really did care to listen to her worries or was just pretending.

"You aren't a pest." He speaks slowly and with confidence in his words. "Not to me. _Never_ to me."

For once he doesn't flush at the words that have escaped his mouth, not even when Kahiro looks him dead in the eyes and tells him he's honestly an amazing person, because he believes in every word he's spoken.


	44. Burn

**Doing a two parter thing this time :D**

-Burn-

They're all walking down the street when it happens.

Yamamoto and Gokudera are walking slightly ahead with half hearted bickering from the latter, Kahiro next to Tsuna and swinging her bag of tennis rackets behind her. She's just been in a tournament of which they cheered whole heartedly for her, the girl not coming first but instead a solid second-impressive considering her opponents. It had been incredible to watch her play, her feet flying across the court and smile permanently etched on her lips, but her conversations with the other tennis players had been just as entertaining, the girl clearly knowing everyone there.

Tsuna notices first, a fraction of a second before the other boys. Kahiro's halfway through another animated story about one of the tennis players she's known for god knows how long that he's been laughing at for a good few minutes when his eyes catch sight of a couple of men looking at them. A few more glances around them all and he sees more men slowly advancing on them, the street suspiciously void of any other people. His laughter disappears almost immediately and he steps closer to Kahiro, eyes meeting Gokudera and Yamamoto's who have also fallen completely silent with hardened eyes.

Kahiro notices this, of course she notices it since she's smarter than people ever give her credit for and more aware of people than anyone else. She doesn't speak but Tsuna sees her eyes briefly flick towards one of the men and her whole body tense.

The brunet doesn't speak to Gokudera or Yamamoto, he doesn't need to since they're already finely tuned to each other and know exactly what each other are thinking. They keep on walking at the same pace as before until they reach a fork in the street, the silver haired teen suddenly exploding with movement and throwing a small object that went off with a bang, smoke filling the air. Kahiro's wrist is grabbed and she's tugged off to the left in a run, her heart hammering against her chest as they sprint out of the smoke and into the open air.

"Tsunayoshi, who on _earth-_ " She cuts off when Tsuna sharply turns again and yanks her down another street.

"I don't know, we just need to keep running!" He tells her breathlessly, eyes darting around in order to see whether they're being followed. The boy then stops abruptly, Kahiro almost crashing into his back and watching with wide eyes when a group of men land in front of them both.

"Vongola Decimo, I hope you are prepared." One says, his hand moving inside of his jacket in unison with the rest of the group, bringing out an object that Kahiro takes a moment to realize in her horror is a gun.

She grabs onto Tsuna's arm as the sea of firearms are raised, not knowing what she was meaning to do because even she could see there was no time to run at all now. Her mouth opens and she's not sure if she's done that to say something or scream, but Tsuna then speaks.

" _Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you._ "

His voice is deeper then normal and she turns her head in order to stare at him in surprise but it's then that the group of men pull the triggers' and she freezes as the bullets fly at them.

They don't make it more than a metre in front of her.

Fire, bright burning _fire_ explodes in her vision and the bullets are incinerated in a split second, not even their ashes remaining. The heat makes her face turn a light pink and the bright light makes her squint a little however she doesn't look or move away, staring at the flames in surprise until they vanish. The cool metal around her wrist makes her then look down to see a red, intricate gauntlet like thing gripping onto her skin where Tsuna's fingers were last. She's too shocked to speak, too confused to form the billions of questions on the tip of her tongue.

"Kahiro." Her head snaps up at the mention of her name spoken again in a deeper, more confident way than usual, and she's met with burning orange eyes instead of sepia ones that are more angular, more fierce, more sure than they have ever been to her. "You need to get far away from here."

The grip around his wrist is released and Kahiro, who is so much smarter and aware than people ever anticipate her to be, gives a quick, sharp nod before turning on her heel and full out sprinting down the street.

Tsuna's lips quirk up slightly at this as he's used to getting stares and shouts that they can't just leave him behind like this, that they want him to explain everything right now, but he knows Kahiro's got a fierce intelligence underneath her happy go lucky exterior and she already is handling the situation quite well in her head. The smile leaves his face as he faces the group of men and their guns, instead replaced with the righteous anger he's starting to become known for in the mafia world.

 _You do not mess with Sawada Tsunayoshi's family unless you desire great pain inflicted upon yourself._

And Kahiro keeps on running, her mind filled with bright flames.


	45. Lost

**Second part to 'Burn' :)**

-Lost-

Tsuna finishes with the men as easily as anything. After all, it was his flames up against bullets and men who didn't know nearly as much about how to fight close quarters as he did. Almost immediately after finishing them off, he half runs, half flies down in the direction he saw Kahiro sprint off in.

She's fast and so he trusts she has done exactly as he said and gotten as far away as she can- until he sees her discarded tennis racket bag, opened up and lying in a mess on the sidewalk. Picking it up, a feeling of uneasiness spreads through his body, even more so when he sees a bullet embedded in the fence right next to where the bag has been dropped.

Slinging it over one shoulder after closing it, he continues on his way only to pause a little way later, his eyes widening at the sight of blood of the pavement, fresh and wet. The uneasiness is taking ahold of him and he moves faster than before, his flames flickering randomly in his growing distress. Then, there's a familiar loud gasp of shock and horror coming from a street coming off the one he is moving down and almost immediately he recognizes it as Kahiro's because he can't ever imagine her screaming in this sort of situation. Scream in surprise at a simply prank or people jumping out at her, yes, but never when she's really in danger, not really.

Tsuna flies down to the turning, heart hammering against his chest and _oh god, please be safe, please be saf-_

The loud, resounding sound of a gunshot makes his mind go completely blank, not even hearing the thud of a body falling after it. It's all white noise to him now and he's in shock, he _knows_ he's in shock but unable to break himself out of it.

 _Kahiro._

He turns the corner slowly now, all sense of urgency dead and replaced with an ugly, screaming feeling of foreboding that gets louder and louder as his eyes scan the street before him. His breathing is hard and the beating of his heart positively painful, it feeling like it wanted to break out of his chest and breathe the open air.

She's the first thing his eyes properly focus on, everything else seeming fuzzy in his vision. There's one of the men from earlier beside her, his hand gripping a gun that he barely notices, and she's bleeding, clothing seeped in red around the wound and-

She's standing. Her hand gripping onto a tennis racket. The man lying on the floor with a visible wound to the head.

It takes a moment for her to see him, eyes hardened and narrowed as she grips onto the racket almost painfully, chest heaving as she breathes deeply and stares down at the unconscious man. When she sees him, she blinks, a look of relief overcoming her features that soften her earlier fierce expression. "Tsunayoshi, thank _god_ -" Kahiro cuts off when something collides with her body and she stumbles, arms grabbing her before she falls and enveloping her in a crushing hug.

Tsuna grips onto her tightly as though she is about to seep through his fingers like sand, head rested on her shoulder and his panicked breaths hitting her neck. "I thought...I thought you…" It's almost funny to hear him stumble over his words in this deeper, more confident voice of his, but Kahiro doesn't remark on this at all, instead briefly lingering on the thought that Tsuna doesn't usually _do_ hugs, it's her who is pulling him into a sort of embrace of thanks and gratitude whilst marvelling at the fact that she's made friends with such an incredible young man.

But Tsuna doesn't think about this at all, instead thinking about how for a brief moment after that gunshot he'd had to entertain the idea of a world where Kahiro didn't exist and he'd have to live with the loss of her bright smile and laughs, the loss of one of his dearest friends.

Eventually he murmurs half into her skin a question as to why her knee is bleeding, still hugging her, and a laugh reaches his ears that is slightly strained from the situation but definitely real. "I fell over earlier and hit my knee on the pavement. Let go of my tennis racket bag too and made the funniest noise ever when I dropped. Like a dying koala or something."

Tsuna draws back from her at that and looks at Kahiro whose eyes are shining like usual and is smiling in slight bemusement and amusement. "A dying _koala._ " He repeats, and she laughs again.

"Exactly like one." She then pauses and frowns. "By the way, your forehead seems to be on fire."

And Tsuna can't fight back the urge to laugh, resting his head on her shoulder again as he giggles uncontrollably because god, he'd almost _lost_ this.


	46. Grove

**Technically this is a three parter after all with "Burn" and "Lost"**

 **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

-Grove-

Tsuna explains it all when Kahiro gets to his house.

He isn't prompted to do it, not really, but he _knows_ that he can't leave her in the dark like this after she'd almost been killed and he knows she _knows_ that he's set in his decision to tell her because she doesn't question it all the way there. She is mostly silent for the whole journey but there's a smile on her lips every time he glances her way that reassures him more than any words could.

Nana gets them tea-it is obvious she has an inkling as to something shocking happening with her soft voice usually reserved for the kids when she speaks to Kahiro. But Kahiro subtly rejects this act of kindness; she's _okay_ and she doesn't need all this coddling. And it's true that she's fine because Kahiro has been through shocking events before as, when someone tends to know everyone, they hear and get involved with many things. She's been there after a friend of a friend of a friend (who technically is her friend too, or at least is trying to be) has been hit by a car and bled almost to death. She's been there when a fight between a couple of gangs broke out as she just happened to be in good with _both_ of the leaders-a knife was pulled at one point but it got stopped before anyone could get killed.

She's been here, there and everywhere and had to cope with the dizzying aftermath where she had to come to terms with what she'd witnessed and been involved with to an extent.

So, honestly, she's okay.

She's dizzy, confused, a little scared of what Tsuna is about to tell her but... _okay._

Gokudera and Yamamoto come in when they've just sat down in his room. They're practically unscathed save Gokudera's singed sleeve, which he had been loudly complaining about on the way upstairs, but when they see her there's complete silence for a few painful moments. Reborn appears then and sends them away to Hibari as so to deal with the apparently unconscious bodies littered around Namimori, Kahiro then remembering the large group she'd seen Tsuna move around in once before and wonder whether they're all in on this secret that had led to them being attacked.

There's only a small pang of injustice that she's the odd one out, the one friend who knows nothing at all about everything. After all, she's been Tsuna's friend for the shortest amount of time and what they're involved with seems incredibly dangerous so _of course_ she wouldn't be told-especially with Tsuna treasuring his friends and wanting them to stay safe. But, even with this logic, the small pang remains and she despises it for being there.

Reborn starts to explain everything first. He only gets as far as saying 'Tsuna is Vongola Decimo' when the boy himself cuts him off and asks whether he can do the talking. The arcobaleno almost sighs at his request.

It's obvious to him why his student wants such a thing. He wants to keep Kahiro and the mafia separated as much as possible.

Yes, Tsuna is just about to _explain_ his own involvement in the mafia, which is so deep that now Kahiro has seen a glimpse she can't just pretend she saw nothing, but he's still straining to keep them apart. _He_ wants to explain it all instead of the hitman Reborn, so that she doesn't get too involved with him, an important player in the mafia. _He_ wants to gently steer her away from everything and have the whole underworld seem miles away ( _yes, yes, we are all in the mafia here but you don't think of us like that, you think of us as your friends and I won't let you see the real symbols of the mafia here, like Reborn, so it's all fine and dandy)._

Tsuna could say it was for selfless reasons afterwards. That he just wanted her not to get involved with such a dangerous thing and keep her all safe and wrapped up in the peaceful Namimori.

But Reborn knows better.

Kahiro is the idyllic grove in the dark, dangerous forest. She's someone for him to run to when the darkness gets too much.

She became friends with him not through any mafia related means but because she _wanted_ to be friends with him. The odd one out in his entire friendship group. She's never expected him to have to talk about the mafia, never had to get involved with fights, never dragged him further into the chaotic world Reborn was yanking him into.

The breath of fresh air.

Tsuna didn't want to stop breathing it in quite yet.

Reborn still accepts the request though. _Just a little while longer,_ he thinks as Tsuna turns to Kahiro and clears his throat, the girl's attention on him and fingers fiddling gently with the edge of her top. _I'll let you sleep at the grove just a little while longer._


	47. Autumn

**I honestly forgot I wrote more chapters whoops**

-Autumn-

Tsuna sits on the swing beside her, positioned so his feet are on either side of the seat and both hands grasping onto one chain. Kahiro sits in the same way, facing him with her head leant slightly forwards like his. Their feet are almost touching as they talk-every now and then their voices get louder, usually from laughter, but most of the time they speak in hushed tones, as if everything they say is a secret.

Ever since the mafia incident and Tsuna's explanation of how he is to be the next boss of the Vongola, they've found themselves positioned and acting in a far closer manner. They both have their reasons for doing this although they aren't very aware that they are, feeling instead as if this is how they've always spent time together.

For Tsuna, he's doing this in the name of protection of the girl. The awful nightmarish feeling of Kahiro slipping out of his fingers first put in his mind because of that gunshot is rampant in his dreams, causing him to wake up in fear and often message the girl despite it being in the middle of the night (she almost always replies straight away, making him wonder whether he's woken her up or whether she's unable to sleep as a result of the incident). If they're close, he immediately feels reassured that he can prevent the feeling from ever having to occur again with his own strength.

But that's just all he's admitting to properly in his head; he's not doing it just to keep her safe. He's also doing it because, since the incident and the horrifying few moment where he thought he'd lost the bright, _blindingly_ _bright_ Kahiro, he's begun to grasp at every bit of interaction with her that he can. He wants to commit everything about her to memory-it's more than it had been before with just her features but the sound of her laugh, the way her feet fidget when she hasn't been moving for a while, the subtle way her tone of voice changes when she's leading up to a joke.

It's almost as if he's trying to grab everything about her before anyone else can notice it by being so close, keeping it all for himself and hidden from prying eyes.

For Kahiro, she's being this close to Tsuna because she knows his secret now. She's been given the key to the vault she's been eyeing all this time and it's unlocked both that and the gate that was keeping them at a distance from each other-yes, it was a short distance but a distance all the same. So, as if to mirror this new closeness in their friendship from now knowing secrets on both parts, she's sitting closer to him, lowering her head so that their faces are close when they talk and her ponytail swings down, acting almost like a curtain to keep a sense of privacy.

She's also doing it to notice things about Tsuna, but not so much for the purpose of committing them to memory. Kahiro's doing it to see what she's missed before about the boy when she wasn't aware of his secret: the small, faint scars from fights on his skin, the flicker of orange in eyes he gets every now and then, the determination and resolve in his eyes when he's having to discuss something related to the mafia.

It's almost as if she's getting to know him in his entirety better than she even knows herself.

"-and you should've _seen_ their faces when they realized I'd jumped down. I mean, I did tell them that stairs were for the unimaginative but _still._ " Kahiro lets out a quick, somewhat muted laugh, her head moving to the side so the temple of her forehead is pressed into the cool metal of the chain she's grasping onto.

Tsuna gapes at her, but the corners of his mouth are curving upwards. "Hibari-san would kill you if he saw you jump out of a window in school!"

"Pshaw, I could take him." Her eyes glint mischievously at this.

"You could _not._ "

"Tsunayoshi, you're so supportive!" She laughs louder this time, nudging him with her foot in a movement too light to be considered a kick. "Especially since I've heard _you_ jumped out of a window once-the reception room window to be precise."

He blanches at her teasing grin. "That was _Reborn's_ fault."

"In your boxers-"

"Also Reborn's fault."

She tuts at him. "Not everything can be Reborn's fault."

The boy snorts. "I beg to differ."

Another laugh. She tips her head back in her giggles, the sound drifting through the air with ease. Tsuna watches as she does so, her jacket flapping about and trainers not touching the ground. Kahiro was just finishing up jogging when he bumped into her but it's hard to tell she's been exercising now-possibly due to the fact they've been in this playground for god knows how long just talking, whispering and laughing.

Her eyes then catch something and she gets off the swing in one fluid movement-Tsuna curses his clumsiness as he almost gets his foot stuck on the seat when he tries to do the same-with a huge grin on her face. Then she rushes off, the brunet going after her as the girl waves at him to come with her. She practically dives into the huge mound of leaves, scattering them all across the ground. "Oh my god, I haven't done this in years!" Kahiro exclaims with bright eyes and an excited flush across her cheekbones. Noting Tsuna's hesitance to do what she had just done, she then gathers up an armful of orange and brown leaves and chucks them at him.

Tsuna splutters, arms waving about to get them off of him. "Kahiro!" His protest falls on deaf ears but he doesn't particularly mind when the girl in question is so absorbed in laughing that she doesn't hear his shout. He minds enough however to scoop up a whole load of leaves and deposit them all over her head.

" _Tsunayoshi!_ "

"Yes?" He replies, the image of innocence as she throws a fake glare at him, picking at the leaves stuck to her hair. Then, her grin returns.

A few minutes later and they're both lying on the ground with leaves all about them, giggling uncontrollably. "You- you're _insane._ " Tsuna manages to say in between laughter and breathlessly.

"Insanely _awesome_." Kahiro corrects him as she sits up, tilting her head to look down at him. This causes Tsuna's vision to be almost completely filled with her face. There's a bruise on her cheek from running into a tree earlier-he'd stopped his laughing and throwing leaves briefly to ask her sincerely whether she was alright but she did a sneak attack and stuffed some leaves down his shirt, making him yelp as she darted off with her own laughter ringing in his ears. The sunlight is catching her eyelashes and casting small shadows on her face that dance when she fidgets around a little.

She looks surprisingly pretty in a warm sort of way-not like Kyoko's almost unnatural perfection or Bianchi's model-esque features, but a sort of attractiveness that grows on you until it seems normal. Tsuna decides it's like coffee: the blend of tastes reminiscent of Kahiro's combination of scruffiness and elegance seeming a little strange to start with but tasting better and better as time goes on-

 _She's got a leaf in her hair._

Almost immediately he bursts out into poorly stifled sniggers because it is _so_ like Kahiro to give off the impression of attractiveness and then practically ruin it all with a leaf sticking out of her hair (but she still is pretty, just in a more ridiculous way now).

"Oi, you can't just look at my face and then start laughing!" She swats his arm when he sits up, a look of mock offence marring her features.

"Sorry, you've just got a leaf in your hair and it just looks _funny-_ " He covers his mouth as he laughs again, Kahiro whining dramatically as she feels about her hair, trying to get it out.

After a few tries, she gives up. "You aren't lying to me are you?" She asks him suspiciously and Tsuna shakes his head, reaching forwards to get it out. The leaf has somehow tangled itself in her hair and he starts having to use his other hand, asking her how on earth she got it stuck there and getting a handful of leaves shmushed into his face as an answer. Finally, he twists the leaf one more time and is about to tell her he's got it when she speaks. "Your eyes are an autumn colour."

He blinks and looks down at her in surprise just as the leaf breaks free of her hair. Tsuna hadn't noticed she's been staring at his eyes whilst he's been trying to get the blasted leaf out and the realization that she has throws him for a loop. His thoughts a mess, he finds that he's just staring back at her own eyes-a nice coffee-brown shade that pulls his gaze in and holds it there.

"Tsunayoshi?"

She calls his name softly, the corners of her mouth quirking up as usual when she pronounces the 'shi' and he briefly wonders how there are people in this world that make you _love_ your name, not just accept it as your own but treasure it so, _so_ much, before swallowing. "I got it out."

He doesn't stammer (thank _god_ he doesn't stammer) and pulls his hands back, holding the leaf up in one of his hands. Kahiro looks between him and the leaf, then laughing. "See? Your eyes have the same shade as that!" She points at the mostly brown leaf with some orange tints.

"Oh yeah, you're right."

Tsuna doesn't even look at the leaf.


	48. Cold

**This one is a work of art shush**

-Cold-

It started as an accident.

Or, at the very least, it wasn't his fault, it was Gokudera's fault.

See, all Tsuna had been meaning to do was pass a drink of water to Kahiro. At the very same time, unknown to both of them, Gokudera and Yamamoto were outside with the former getting quite passionate in his debate with the baseball player ("No baseball idiot, that is _not_ how you mow a lawn- no that isn't it either, oh my god, you're ruining the surprise for the tenth's mother!"). And when Gokudera got passionate in his debates, he also got rather... _explosive._

The loud 'boom' caused the glass to slip from Tsuna's hand and the water, the ice-cold water, flung itself at the front of Kahiro's neck.

And now, with one thing leading to another, both of them were running around with ice cubes in their hands, trying to attack the other person with them. God knows where the ice cubes had come from.

(It was probably Reborn's fault, it usually was).

Avoiding getting an ice cube down the front of his top, Tsuna slips one down the back of Kahiro's shirt, the girl shrieking as it slides down her back. "Oh my- _Tsunayoshi!_ " She points accusingly with one hand as she struggles with the other to get the ice cube out.

"You put one in my sock!" He says in his defense, biting back the laughter as the girl dances around, swearing and shivering.

"Oh you're so going to get it!" She dives for him and drags him to the ground with her, the boy landing with an 'oof'. Kahiro struggles to keep him pinned down, holding up an ice cube that seems to glint in the light.

"Um, is it too late to say sorry?" He laughs nervously, eyeing the ice cube with not a small degree of wariness.

Her eyes gleam. "It's never too late to beg for mercy, dear Tsunayoshi."

"That isn't quite the same thi-" It is at this moment Gokudera and Yamamoto open the door to the bedroom to see Tsuna being held on the floor by Kahiro, the two turning their heads to look at them.

"...This isn't as weird as it seems."

"Kahiro, this is definitely weir- _Kahiro!"_ Tsuna half screams, the girl having managed to shove the ice cube into the waistband of his jeans before pulling him to his feet so it slipped down his leg.

"Tenth! Are you alright?!" Gokudera cries as the brunet begins to hop about, Kahiro laughing almost manically. "How can I help you? Tenth!"

"It's _freezing!_ " Tsuna yelps, causing the silver haired teen to rush off in search of something warm, not quite realizing what his boss' cry was truly about. Yamamoto, laughing a little in realization as to what has really happened, goes after Gokudera in order to stop him before he brought a flame thrower or something (knowing him, that's _exactly_ what he'd do). Shaking his leg a little more, Tsuna finally gets the ice cube out only to find Kahiro holding up a tray full of the tiny, solid, freezing things from hell. "No, Kahiro, don't you _dare_ -"

"Ice, ice, _baby_." She grins.

"I'm never letting you back into my house again."


	49. Dice

-Dice-

Their whole friendship had arisen from chance, Tsuna realizes one day as Kahiro sits on top of his desk talking to him, her moonstone necklace hanging loose from how she's leaning dorwards to talk to him.

If Kahiro had bumped into someone else in that dance lesson and stolen them as her partner instead, if she'd perhaps been faster or slower in her vibrant movements then maybe they wouldn't have become aware of each other's existence beyond classmates. Maybe she would've clasped hands with one of those boys who wanted desperately to be her friend and spun around with them, she might've even bumped into Yamamoto or Gokudera and strived to get to know them instead.

Somehow the latter options put a bad taste in his mouth although he didn't know quite _why,_ because, if that had happened, then would he have cared that a girl that only _could_ have become close to him wasn't? Would he have cared that she was laughing with Yamamoto and constantly messaging him or teasing Gokudera and being likeable enough to get him to be fond of her in his own way? He'd have blissful ignorance after all, unaware that Kahiro could've been sat like this in front of him with her feet almost touching his knees, their physical proximity practically representing the closeness in their friendship.

To him who knew though, the idea felt like being stabbed in the back.

What if Kahiro hadn't danced so erratically in the first place? What if she'd simply gone in time like she was supposed to and stayed with her first partner the whole time? She could've easily done it properly; her motor skills were high enough for her to have done it all perfectly but, for some reason, she hadn't.

Both of them could've easily stayed in their lanes so to speak, continued life with the same circles of friends (although that wasn't quite true since Kahiro would always be making new friends, always making people enamoured with her).

The chances of them being friends didn't just hang on who she'd bumped into or how she'd danced however. Kahiro could've easily just not stolen him as a dance partner. She could've easily just apologized, easily just taken her original partner's hand again, easily danced off in the same crazy manner and ignored the new path she could take.

But she hadn't.

She'd danced vibrantly, bumped into him and then stolen him as a partner.

This all reminded him of when she'd flipped that coin and dragged him off to that cafe that he so adored now.

 _We're teenagers! We've got to be spontaneous sometimes! Anyway, if you don't do something completely different, you might never find something great._

The dice (not just a coin, the chances of them being friends were far smaller than fifty-fifty) had been in his favour that day it seemed.


	50. Splinter

**Last of the ones I forgot about haha**

-Splinter-

"It's not funny!" Tsuna insists as Kahiro dies of laughter, almost falling off the veranda in her back garden.

"Oh my god, it _so_ is!" She guffaws, leaning towards him and lowering her voice. "A splinter. A future mafia boss has been defeated by a _splinter._ "

"Kahiro!" The brunet turns red in slight embarassment, the girl waving her hand as if to say 'joking, joking'. She then looks him dead in the eyes and poorly hides another snort of amusement. " _Kahiro!_ "

"Okay, okay, now I'm done. I promise." Shaking her head with a smile, she gestures for Tsuna to show her his hand. The splinter is lodged in his palm, it having gotten there when he'd fallen over earlier on the wooden veranda, Kahiro actually falling over him but meeting no such fate. "Gonna have to get the tweezers for this one." She decides, Tsuna's face turning pale. "Don't you worry, I'm a pro at this." Kahiro laughs again, patting him on the cheek before standing up.

"Pro?" He manages to say, still horrified at the prospect of her yanking the splinter out. Yes, he could manage being shot at, manage being in dangerous fights, but _ugh_ , he did not want to do this!

She smiles in bemusement. "Come on, you know me! How could I have _not_ gotten about a billion splinters at my age?"

"You make it sound like you're old." Tsuna mutters as she disappears inside the house.

"Oi, you whippersnapper!" A yell comes from inside, making him hide a smile behind his hand. Fairly soon she emerges with a first aid kit and a bottle of liquid. "Alcohol, to make you drunk enough to forget the pain!" She laughs at his slightly wary expression. "Nah, it's just water." At this, she unscrews the cap and, without warning, pours it over the red area of Tsuna's hand.

" _Ow_!"

"Cleanliness is next to godliness and far away from infection...ness." Kahiro finishes lamely, patting down the wet area with a bit of tissue.

"That was terrible."

"Shut up, I'm the doctor here."

Tsuna almost says she's a terrible doctor in response but then remembers Shamal and decides she isn't _that_ bad.

Then, she brings out another small bottle. "Now, this _is_ the alcohol to make you drunk enough to forget the pain."

"It's water isn't it?"

She puts her hand to her heart in mock offence. "Tsunayoshi, I would _never_ lie to you! But please don't drink it, as my one and only patient I can't let you die from drinking this alcohol." Kahiro then grinned and set to work sterilising the tweezers that Tsuna was still eyeing cautiously. "Now, are you ready to feel the burn?"

"I am not happy with you being my doctor." He tells her.

"Too bad, you've got no choice." She readies her tweezers, Tsuna automatically flinching and not letting her get a good grip on the splinter. He moves again when she tries once more, Kahiro huffing and flicking her gaze up to the boy. "This doctor patient relationship is clearly not working very well."

He winces. "Sorry, I'm not really good with pain..."

"No pain no gain."

"Isn't that about fitne-" He isn't able to finish off his sentence, instinctively moving his hand away from Kahiro's tweezers again when she tries to take him by surprise.

"Okay, well this isn't working." She observes with a sigh, frowning a little up at Tsuna when he looks embarrassed and apologetic. "...You know, this one time when I went to the doctor as a kid I started crying because they were going to do an injection. And I mean full out bawling and screaming."

Realizing what she's getting at, Tsuna looks down at the ground. "But that was when you were a kid." He mumbles.

Kahiro pauses. "...I cried when I sprained my ankle."

That gets Tsuna's attention and he snaps his gaze back up to her, taken aback. The memory of her falling down the stairs rose in his mind alongside the front she was keeping up that she was perfectly happy with everything, covering up her frustration that she couldn't move the way she wanted to. But cry? No, he hadn't even thought she'd cry, she was Kahiro, she didn't _do_ stuff like that.

"It was after you left me with that Shamal doctor guy." She curls herself up a little, looking sheepish. "One of the first things he said to me was he didn't mind if I cried because it hurt. I hadn't even realized I was all teary eyed until he said that. And I've had a hell of a lot worse than just a sprained ankle and I know you've had a lot worse than anything I've had happen so don't...don't feel bad that you get iffy with pain that you think shouldn't matter." She shrugs and laughs a little but it's slightly strained. "It's pain. You're not meant to want it."

It takes him a little while to respond. "But we're talking about a splinter. You were even joking about it before and it shouldn't-" He breaks off, feeling a little more embarrassed.

"Tsunayoshi, you aren't a coward y'know." She speaks softly with a small smile now. "I mean, with what you've told me about the mafia and everything, I don't think anyone could call you a coward with how you've managed to keep everyone you care about safe." Her eyes then flick downwards and she keeps talking, fingers grabbing at his wrist again so softly that he thinks he's imagining it. "I think you're probably braver than anyone I know."

"You're always saying nice things about me." He is speaking quietly now despite no one being around them, it feeling almost like they're exchanging secrets. His hand pulses a little in pain as he finds himself analyzing her features again: the small hairs at the nape of her neck he can see now she's leaning over a little, the flick of her eyelashes, the curvature of her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't say them unless I believed I was telling the truth." Then, she lifts her eyes up to his again and she smile grows a little. "And you really are braver than you know. You didn't even flinch this time." Kahiro raises the tweezers with a small splinter in between the two prongs of metal. "I told you, I'm a pro."

He can't find his words for a little while. "...Thank you, Kahiro."

"No, thank _you_ for listening to me ramble." The words tumble out of her mouth with a little less confidence and grace than usual. "People don't...I'm not usually listened to about things like that. But you paid so much attention you didn't even-" She laughs with a nervous tinge to her voice. "Thanks, Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna wants to tell her that he'll always listen to her not matter what it is she wants to talk about, but his mind is still reeling from those compliments that she probably doesn't know mean the world to him.


	51. Crickets

**This is really weird and I apologize but the prompt was awkward for me ._.**

-Crickets-

Recently, Tsuna had came to see his classmates and other peers in his year that keep an arm's length between themselves and him as being somewhat like...crickets.

Before Kahiro (because everything in his life now feels like it can be split into sections by who he'd yet to have met: before Reborn, before Gokudera, before Mukuro, before Enma), he'd never imagined them as such. It had been a constant noise then, granted a barely audible buzz when he was around Yamamoto and Gokudera, but ever present in his life.

The badmouthing. The bullying. The looks of disgust.

Even when it had ceased to matter to him _so_ much for he had friends, glorious, incredible friends who he'd be willing to protect even at the cost of his own life, it was the thing that brought him down from every high when he realized it hadn't gone away.

However, now it was different. Now the noise was not so constant and would, with a single person's arrival, hush entirely. No whispering, no snide looks, nothing.

 _Kahiro made people act like crickets and fall silent when she graced them with her presence because such constant noise would not be tolerated._

Recently, Kahiro had also came to see her wide range of acquaintances and hopeful yet-to-be acquaintances as akin crickets but for an entirely different reason.

Before Tsuna (because her life couldn't be catagorized like Tsuna's by a long list of people but he was important enough to be considered a turning point in her existence), she'd never dwelled too much on the idea that it was quite frankly _awful_ that people had banned her from speaking of her own negative thoughts and feelings. She'd known it wasn't right but thinking about it had never made sense as it had simply made her have to deal with more of her own emotions alone. And, anyway, Kahiro was naturally a _happy_ person so she tended to throw such things out of her mind in favour of laughing and grinning at everything.

So she'd turned her head away from the fact that whenever she wished to talk about things that troubled her, she'd be met by not those chatty acquaintances but a dead silence.

However, now it was different. Now she'd began to properly take in and process the unfair ban because the silence she'd been previously met with was so much more obvious since having become friends with someone who would reply.

 _Tsuna made the people seem identical to crickets and make their deafening silence be something to recognize as wrong._


	52. Turf

**When you need to update your fic of pain and suffering but you're in such a fluffy mood OTL**

 **BUT YEAH MEGA FLUFF WHOOP WHOOP**

-Turf-

Kahiro wakes up with bleary eyes to the sensation of the mattress shaking beside her head. Her hand slaps around a little before finally connecting with her vibrating phone and practically pressing it into her eyes. Squinting, she takes a few moments to read the message she's received, then closing her eyes to tap her fingers on the screen in a pattern that has been ingrained into her recently and squashing it against her ear. After a short while of ringing, she hears the unmistakable sound of someone taking in a sharp intake of breath, taking it as her cue to speak.

"Of course I'm awake, you know I don't sleep until one or later, I'm a teenager not _responsible._ "

A muffled sigh of relief travels through the phone, Kahiro absentmindedly remembering that she had fallen asleep no later than nine as she tries to suppress a yawn. _"How do you even manage to do so much exercise with so little sleep, Kahiro?"_

His calling of her name wakes her up properly. She doesn't know how he does it but whenever Tsuna speaks to her at this time of night, he makes her name sound like a deathly important secret that he's never told anyone and won't ever beyond her.

"What can I say, I'm simply perfect." Sitting up, she leans her back against a cool wall that makes her shiver a little. "So, what do you want with the _perfect_ moi?"

A short, choked laugh, followed by some deep, calming breaths. "...I just couldn't sleep."

 _Ah. Again._ Kahiro sees Tsuna in her mind's eye, leant against a wall like her and clutching the phone with sweaty hands, covers thrown off his bed again due to panicked movements in his sleep. "Did I tell you the story about this girl who sleep walked at mine this one time and threw a feather boa at me so I woke up to think a duck was attacking me?"

" _I can honestly say you haven't."_ More choked laughter.

"It was a very serious situation you know…" Kahiro spins the tale with as loud and optimistic voice as she dares, only too aware that if her parents heard she'd be lectured on calling friends in the middle of the night. But she pushes the boundaries because she knows this is what Tsuna needs right now: the sound of her happy, content, stress-free voice.

The knowledge she's safe that had be got from hearing her babble on about nothing important whatsoever.

"...and of _course_ sports is my turf so I started telling him exactly that you don't play basketball like that!" She huffs dramatically, expecting the usual peals of laughter to respond to her story. And she gets it, except the laughs become strained towards the end and are audibly being forced out of his throat. "Tsunayoshi?" Her voice gets quieter suddenly as a direct result of his abrupt disappearance of amusement at her story.

A sharp intake of breath. "Sorry, I just remembered Reborn was in the same room as me and my laughter is fairly... _loud_."

She resists the urge to wince. He's awful at lying-he rarely brings up Reborn in conversations and only then he uses the infant as an excuse for something. Anyway, if the arcobaleno really cared about his laughing, he would have made it very much known by now. "Tsunayoshi, what's wrong?"

Kahiro can practically hear him debating whether he should tell her or not. "I just...I can't help thinking about what _my_ turf has to be." He's whispering into the phone, making every word sound as though its a secret to take to the grave. "You have your sport and athletics, Yamamoto has his baseball, Ryohei has his boxing and I have-" Tsuna cuts off with a sigh. "The mafia. My turf is the mafia."

Kahiro's whole body tenses because Tsuna _never_ initiates conversations about the mafia with her, he always steers away from them instead. "You aren't being-"

"Fair? It's true though, isn't it? The mafia stuff is the only stuff I know how to do." There's the sound of his clothes rustling and she can see him curling in more on himself now. "My turf is the mafia that only serves to get the people around me into danger."

The girl thinks briefly before responding. "Is this about your nightmare?"

His pause answers her question more quickly than his words. "...You knew?"

A laugh intended to be reassuring. "Well, it was an educated guess."

"I'm a pathetic friend." His small voice makes her jolt. "All I do is get you into danger and then lean on you for help because of a nightmare."

 _But the nightmare is about you thinking I'd died back there,_ she wants to say but Kahiro's too horrified by his words to get them out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Kahiro."

His apology, barely audible, forces her to choke out a jumbled mess of words that she stumbles over when saying. "Fifteen minutes, I'll- I'll text you, alright?"

Tsuna begins to ask what she means but Kahiro hangs up before he can and he stares at his phone for a few moments. There's an irrational wave of despair that only hits him at night when the world is quiet enough for his nightmares to be louder and he convinces himself for a brief while that the girl agrees with him and he _is_ a pathetic friend. But he brings back enough rationality to force himself to quell such thoughts-at least, he will until the fifteen minutes are up.

Treading as lightly as he can as so to not further disturb the most likely awake Reborn, Tsuna exits the room and makes himself busy in the kitchen to pass the time, drinking water and green tea, almost burning his tongue on the latter. His eyes constantly stray to his phone that he sets on the counter, watching the seconds slowly tick by with desperate impatience. It is then, as he washes the cups with checks for the time every three seconds, that he looks up to see a face peering through the window and almost screams.

His phone buzzes at that exact same moment and he takes it in with one glance.

 _Kahiro: Help, I don't know how to break in successfully to your home_

The boy snaps his gaze back to the face to see familiar coffee-brown eyes staring at him, fingers waggling in greeting and barely visible in the darkness.

Tsuna's mind goes blank.

Without thinking, he unlocks the window and the girl slides in, readjusting her ponytail after clambering off the counter top and her trademark grin on her lips. "Thank _god_ you were here instead of your bedroom-I did not want to go do a mission impossible up to _that_ window in the pitch black!"

Words fail him as he stares at her. "...I thought you were going to text.' He eventually murmurs, eyes wide.

"I did...?" Kahiro raises an eyebrow in slight confusion.

"I mean, when you said text I thought- Kahiro, what are you _doing_ here?"

"To ambush you." She informs him in a matter of factly manner.

"To _what-"_

Tsuna doesn't finish his exclamation of disbelief, body yanked into a sudden hug. He's pulled tight against her, her arms with powerful muscles hidden underneath her skin wrapped around his neck and keeping him close. Kahiro is startlingly warm-she's jogged here, he realizes when her faces presses into his shoulder, feeling the fast pace of her heartbeat through his body that is pressed against hers. His arms automatically twist themselves around her waist, fingers applying a bit of pressure to her back as an unconscious movement.

Neither of them speak for a short while, both of their heartbeats slowing and becoming a more steady and reassuring noise to one another. "You aren't pathetic." Eventually, Kahiro breaks the silence, still hugging him but less desperately. "Please don't ever say you're pathetic."

His mind spins and he holds her a little tighter, as if him grabbing onto her will ground him. "You...you came all the way here to say that?" It's a dizzying idea but one that has him wanting to thank her a billion times over because Kahiro's presence is more reassuring than just her voice over the phone.

"Of course I did, Tsunayoshi." Kahiro makes it sound like it is the most natural thing in the world to sneak into his house in the middle of the night just so that she could put some of his worries and fears to sleep. "I could never let someone like you go through the rest of the night believing you were someone who had to apologize for being friends with other people." She draws back from him just enough so that her hands rest of his shoulders. His arms stay wrapped around her waist but more loosely now, although his fingers still press a little into her back. "After all, that's what you're best at doing, dealing with all your friendships."

"I don't…" He stares at her in confusion.

"Tsunayoshi, there were guys pointing guns at us that one time and your first thought back then wasn't to protect yourself but to reassure me that I wouldn't get hurt." The girl looks honestly surprised that he's confused by her statement. "Beyond that, people never have asked me if I was honestly okay when I was putting on a grin and you even said that anything that makes me unhappy matters to you, even if that anything is supposedly 'nothing'. You just-" She cuts off and looks down at the floor. "You're meant to become a mafia boss and instead of having that future be your primary concern, you worried about how I was dealing with a _sprained ankle_. Don't you see how insane that is?"

"You were upset back then though." He whispers, and she laughs, although it's all choked up.

"Oh god, you think that's _normal_." She replies in an equally quiet voice.

Tsuna can't help but laugh himself. "You're the one who thinks it's normal to rush over in the middle of the night just to tell me I'm not pathetic." And saying it aloud makes it worse because his ability to speak just flies out of the window and he pulls her into another hug without thinking, this time resting his own head on her shoulder. Her fingers softly drum out patterns on the back of his neck as he takes shuddering, calming breaths.

"You want to watch a movie or something?" Kahiro eventually asks, voice right by his ear and whispering.

"Shouldn't you be getting home?" Tsuna doesn't let go of her.

Another drumbeat on his neck. "Nah. I'll just message my parents in the early hours of the morning and say I went for a jog."

"We've got school tomorrow." He can't bring himself to care much that his voice is far from convincing.

"I'm sorry, can't you feel how warm I am right now? I must have a fever and I suspect you must have one too." Her voice is full of mirth and he's completely certain she's grinning right now.

"You're terrible." Tsuna grips her a little tighter.

"I'm awesome and you know it."

Reborn watches the teenagers laugh softly in the kitchen and grip each other like their lives depend on it, wondering if Tsuna ever stood a chance against her.


	53. Bubble

**All I want to do is write my other fic but I'm dead from school and writing fluff revives me**

 **I'm kinda doing another three parter thing again with the last one included? Idk what to call it ._.**

-Bubble-

Kahiro and Tsuna's bubbles of personal space practically pop in a matter of minutes after the two decide to hang out in his room rather than spend their whole time hugging in the middle of the kitchen.

( _"Not that you're a bad hugger but, honestly, my arms are getting a little tired Tsunayoshi." "It's because you're short." "I am not short, you're just the one who is shooting upwards! You need to stop, I refuse to wear high heels just to establish my dominance in height. I_ _ **will**_ _injure myself.")_

Reborn, who pretends to be asleep-and at times actually dozes off-sees them change positions drastically over the course of a few hours. They start off as simply sitting next to each other with their shoulders pressed together. Half an hour later and Kahiro's lying on the floor with her legs laying across Tsuna's thighs at a right angle. Next, she's lying half on his stomach at slightly less of a right angle-although that position didn't last long with Tsuna hitting her shoulder and gasping out 'I give, I give, stop crushing me'.

They end up finally deciding on Kahiro sitting with her back against Tsuna's chest, a duvet wrapped around them so only their heads and her hands poke out. A laptop is balanced dangerously on the girl's knees and Tsuna rests his chin on Kahiro's shoulder so he can see the screen. Reborn decides it's the boy's lack of sleep that allows him to sit in such a manner with her without any sort of embarrassment or reluctance to even touch her. In fact, he looks perfectly comfortable with their girl being in such close proximity to him and as does she, but Kahiro never has minded physical contact with others.

"Heh, she fell." The arcobaleno just about hears the girl's remark, the sound of dramatic orchestra music accompanied by howls of grief coming from the laptop.

"Kahiro, that was meant to be a very emotional moment." Tsuna murmurs, fighting down a smile.

"He didn't even try to catch her, he just stretched his hand out and screamed her name. I'd expect you to spend your energy grabbing me instead of calling out my name if I suddenly fell." She huffs.

"But you wouldn't just fall, you'd drag me with you." He points out in a very matter of fact way.

"Touche, touche."

"I'm a little concerned you denied nothing."

After a moment's silence (excluding the swell of the violins and the leading male's continuous shrieking of his love interest's name), both of them suddenly erupt into giggles at some sort of inside joke that Reborn really can't even begin to fathom, Tsuna's cheek pressed against Kahiro's hair that has long since come loose as she leans further back into him and temporarily forgets about the laptop's precarious position. And then-

"Oh, he fell too."

The laptop ends up sliding onto the floor, abandoned in favour of the two of them dying of laughter.


	54. Surprise

**Why? Because you are a dork.**

-Surprise-

Tsuna wonders, when he wakes up, whether this is what a hangover is meant to feel like.

His head is pounding and he sorely wishes that he had never woken up in the first place. There's the faint whispers in the back of his head that he'd been drunk on happiness before this pain but right now all he can think about is the blinding light of the sun and _whose great idea was that anyway, to exist on a planet where such a bright thing shone nearby?_

He makes a muffled noise of distress as he turns his head away from the awful sight, pressing his face into his duvet and closing his eyes before hugging his pillow. Almost immediately, he opens them again.

 _...This isn't my pillow._

Tsuna retracts his arms slowly and pushes himself up into a sitting position, waiting for his brain to catch up with him and explain what on earth is going on. The duvet slides off of him at the movement and it allows him to properly see what this 'pillow' really is.

The minute he sees that it's Kahiro, it all clicks back into place and he remembers the nightmare, the reassurance of her voice that wasn't quite enough, the reassurance of her physical presence that was, the sound of her laughing, the sound of _him_ laughing-

He puts a hand to his head, his rapid return of memories making him feel somewhat dizzy. It's sheer tiredness that has given him this headache and he briefly feels jealous of the girl in front of him who is still asleep, blissfully unaware of the pain she could be experiencing. As if aware of him envying her, she rolls over to further emphasise how she is not about to wake up any time soon. The sun hits her face that he can now see and she looks…

Terrible.

There is no image of 'beauty sleep' before him that the camera-ready girls in the movies conjure up when they depict a woman sleeping. Instead there are bags under her eyes and her hair is a mess, all thrown to one side in a multitude of tangles. She's almost rolled herself up in the duvet so she looks like some sort of burrito too, reminiscent of the way she had bundled herself up when she was ill. Kahiro is the image of someone who hasn't slept in years and will, if he tried to take the duvet away from her, probably sleep-fight him.

It's ridiculous and he can't help but smile because god, only Kahiro could ever look so awful and still make it have some sort of incredible charm to it.

And at that exact moment, Tsuna realizes he's done for.

His whole body clams up and he's frozen stiff, eyes wide with shock. Amongst all the thoughts in his head, many of which are just the words 'oh god' repeated over and over again, there is one that he latches onto in his inwardly panicked state.

This isn't how it was meant to be. Usually in media mediums, the realization would come when the person showed how beautiful they were. They'd show a different side and suddenly the person is obviously all anyone could ever want. If this were how it was _supposed_ to be, the sunlight would have caught on her eyelashes and hair, making her seem as though she were practically glowing. Hell, even if she hadn't looked so radiant, the idea was that she'd seem beautiful all the same, a kind of pretty that had always been right there, hidden in plain sight-

Kahiro looks like a _burrito._

A stupid burrito with a face that screams 'I need sleep', and makes him want to kiss her for it.

Tsuna breaks his stillness to put his hands over his burning face and whispers one word as his head bursts with the realization as to what he feels.

" _Why?"_


	55. Gift

**Bruuuh it's fluff o'clock time to kill you with the cute**

-Gift-

Kahiro wakes up to the lovely smell of something burning.

She blinks, her brain automatically trying to push the sound of someone freaking out downstairs as it tries to awake properly. Her eyes roll lazily over her surroundings and she easily accepts the idea that she has woken up in Tsuna's bedroom on the floor before even remembering how she ended up there.

Her eyes catch sight of her reflection in a mirror and she pulls a face upon the realization that she looks positively awful. But it's too late to panic over her appearance now-Tsuna's seen far worse than this on numerous occasions and she finds it all more amusing than embarrassing.

Standing, she continues to blott out the smell of smoke without too much conscious thought (such things were normal in Tsuna's house after all), instead turning her attention to the slight chill in the air. Seeing her friend's green hoodie draped over a chair, she decides to put it on rather than parade downstairs with the duvet draped over her like a cloak. She may have done that several times in her own home with Tsuna around, but Nana still believed her to be a sensible, responsible human being to an extent, so that had to wait.

 _...I think it is Tsuna freaking out downstairs._

Kahiro finally half-rushes to the kitchen to be met with the sight of the brunet coughing and flailing around a little. He spots her and almost immediately goes a little red in obvious embarrassment. "Uh, I- _help._ "

It's practically impossible not to laugh-not in meanness but at the simple hilarity of the situation-and Kahiro deals with the burnt substance in the pan the boy had been fussing over with practised ease. "Was that an attempt at a pancake?"

Tsuna's blush darkens. "I was following the recipe word for word, I don't understand _how_ …"

Another laugh passes through her lips. "The first time I tried, my dad had to wear a cloth over his mouth like it was emitting poisonous gas." A pause. "And the second time I may have accidentally thrown the pan and the pancake out of the window. It also may have hit someone."

"Oh god, _Kahiro!_ " Tsuna bursts out laughing himself, earning a cheeky grin in response. His heart, that had been nervously pounding away the minute Kahiro had made her entrance, slows. He'd been terrified quite frankly that his sudden epiphany about her would've made him unable to carry a conversation with her as comfortably as before. The reasons he liked her were derived from their time spent together so being unable to talk to her without messing up 24/7 would've been _awful_. But Kahiro is naturally good at carrying conversations and making him talk without dwelling too much on other things-

"That's mine." Tsuna announces in slight surprise upon realizing that the girl was wearing his hoodie.

She waggles her eyebrows. "Oh Tsunayoshi, so possessive~"

He's certain he couldn't get redder and _oh dear lord, he was going to have to deal with her flirtatious teasing now that was bad enough before he realized he actually liked her!_

"It was either this or the duvet cloak." Kahiro then informs him, eyes glittering with amusement as he tries to get his thoughts in order. "And I have to be the responsible one here so theft it was."

" _Responsible_." He half chokes out, poorly restraining a snort of laughter.

"Tsunayoshi, you doubt my maturity?!" She cries in mock horror, placing her hand over her mouth as he continues to struggle not die collapse into a heap of giggles. The girl then peers into the jug of pancake mix and hums. "Well, I _suppose_ this is salvageable...see, responsible adult talk right there."

"You'd say that about anything food related."

"touché, touché." Kahiro grins before setting about making the pancakes he had so miserably failed at. Leaning against the counter, he is in an almost perpetual state of laughing at her tales of her previous cooking attempts, but wholly aware of the fact that she is telling him this all to make him feel better about his own failure.

As his eyes wander, Tsuna suddenly realizes that the hoodie Kahiro has so kindly stolen from him is the one he wore when fighting Byakuran. The irrational urge to take it from her hits him, as though it would keep a barrier between her and mafioso matters like that. He clenches a fist instead to calm himself, nails digging a little into his skin.

Involuntarily, memories of that future race through his mind. The first set of disturbing thoughts is that of having no mention of Kahiro during that entire period of time. Had they lost contact? Had everyone simply forgotten to say anything about her? Had she _died_?

The initial panic wears down quickly and his hand relaxes. No, that future was a different future to his, wasn't it? That version of himself had never gone through many of the trials he had and it was perfectly plausible that he and Kahiro had never became friends in that world. Part of him feels intense relief for that-another version of herself would have lived through like safely and not had to go through such horrors. Another part can't stomach that idea of having lived a life without her friendship.

More memories flash and he settles on one of the final ones: the battle where he had worn the hoodie Kahiro was wearing. His speech to Byakuran resounds in his head, where he claims that everything, whether it be good, or bad, is a precious moment in his life.

His eyes flick up to Kahiro's face. She's frowning in concentration as she shuffles the pan around a bit, clearly preparing to flip the pancake. Time is a gift, he thinks, because they're not going to live forever and it's not exactly something he can take back. It's precious, which is why everything he spends it on is something to be treasured.

In one quick movement, Kahiro launches the pancake into the air and-

"...I'm responsible, I swear." she whispers as Tsuna chokes on air, the pancake clinging to the ceiling.

Ten minutes later and they're both sitting on the kitchen floor with pancake mix everywhere, watching the billionth pancake tutorial on Kahiro's phone after Tsuna's just about convinced the girl not to just eat the squirty cream and be done with it. He wonders whether years from now he'll look back on this and still think that his gift of a few hours of his time to her couldn't possible be equivalent to the gift of all of her laughs mixed with his.


	56. Dull

" **Kyoko" readers-I'm honestly writing the next chapter rn I hope I can finish it in this next week uwu**

-Dull-

Kahiro doesn't understand why people call Tsuna dull.

She's not stupid, she knows that behind her back people say mean, cruel things about the boy but put on a front when she's around because they all want her approval.

(She doesn't quite get that either, why she's been placed on this pedestal as the one everyone needs to please and be friends with. Yes, she finds navigating through social situations easy and is aware that makes her popular but this, this is _too_ much just for her.)

Most of the insults her dearest friend gets are to an extent understandable-not at all right but she can at least see where they have derived such wrong ideas-but _dull?_

Kahiro peers over the rim of her mug at him. He's chatting with Gokudera who is hanging onto every word like it is the gospel and Yamamoto is paying for some more coffee. Their favourite hangout is practically empty so they're all speaking in low voices, quite literally in Tsuna's case as his voice has been getting deeper recently, somewhat reminiscent of his hyper dying will mode voice.

It just doesn't make sense.

Tsuna's not dull, Tsuna is…

Intense. Bright. Lively. Charming. Caring. Interesting.

This list goes on and on in Kahiro's head but the word dull never pops up. For crying out loud, he was going to be a mafia boss when he grew up! Where on earth is there room for the boy to even be _boring_?

Of course, most of the people at school don't know that he's so heavily involved in the mafia but, even then, if they just paused to properly _look_ at him for one second, they'd realize they were so utterly wrong to call Sawada Tsunayoshi dull.

Do they honestly not see the way his eyes light up when it comes to talking about his friends? The orange flecks in them that intensify when he's being serious? The curve to his lips when he starts to become comfortable enough to make snappy comebacks? The way he whispers when he's telling you absolutely anything once you're close enough, like everything is a secret for only the two of you? The fact that he will spend a whole day with you laughing over absolutely nothing because he just _gets it_? The way he whines and teases as much as she does? The idea he'll sit by you and promise that he'll listen to any stupid worry you have? The early hours he'll wake up at just to see you play at a tournament to cheer you on because he cares god damn it, and care like that isn't something to be dismissed as _dull_ -

His eyes meet hers and he smiles at her, awkwardly but in an almost secretive manner, like there is some sort of inside joke.

Kahiro thinks, with all the compliments she gets about her smiles, her's is dull.


	57. Heart

**I'm really ill right now wow I need fluff to make myself feel better**

 **Also shushshs this is exactly how it should go I have no idea what you mean by this being ridiculous...**

 **-Heart-**

"Do you think I could survive if I jumped from here?"

"Kahiro, for the love of all things good, _don't_." Tsuna places his hand on the girl's elbow and gently pulls her away from the window as if to emphasise his point. Orange light is filtering through the glass and the school day has long since been over. However, Tsuna had been made his English teacher's lackey as a result of not turning in his homework (it wasn't his fault, Lambo had _blown it up_ ) and Kahiro had been dragged into it too after having ran into the boy quite literally after finishing her club of the week, so it's only now that they're leaving the school premises.

"Yes, but would I _survive_?" She asks with a hint of a smile to her lips and mischief in her coffee-brown eyes.

"I think _I_ would die of shock for sure…" He trails off with a sigh as they make their way down a stairwell, slowly and deliberately with their shoulders brushing against each other. He's gotten taller again and Kahiro despairs over this quite vocally-almost embarrassingly if they're were public.

Her phone goes off with a loud kazoo noise and the two of them automatically burst into peals of laughter, Tsuna clutching onto Kahiro and Kahiro clutching onto the banister as they giggle uncontrollably. Once they finally reach the safety of the bottom of the stairs, she flicks her mobile out, Tsuna still close enough to see the message.

 _Nana: Could you tell me where that cafe place you and Tsu go to all of the time? My friend and I are craving caffeine!_

"Why did she message you…?" He asks, peering at her screen closer in surprise.

"Nosy." Kahiro chides him, flicking his shoulder lightly. "And it's because she _loves_ me. We talk all of the time, y'know."

Tsuna gapes at her. "You're friends with my _mother_?"

"I'm her informant." She waggles her eyebrows with a grin before beginning to type a reply. Halfway through, she stops and looks Tsuna dead in the eyes. He can practically see the idea forming in her mind and _oh no, this can't be good._ "Tsunayoshi, can you give me the directions?"

He narrows his eyes suspiciously. "To the cafe we go to all of the time…?"

"No..." Kahiro clicks her fingers and points at him with a wink. "To your heart!"

It's almost impossible not to laugh but somehow Tsuna reigns it in and stares at her, not in just disbelief at her awful, _awful_ pick up line, but in complete awe because Kahiro's utterly _ridiculous_. The people of their school think she's wonderful, incredible, the social queen of their world, but she's _ridiculous_ and makes the stupidest jokes and has the best smile and laugh and he's absolutely _smitten_ with her.

"I love you."

The words roll off his tongue by accident-she's always been good at that, making him say things he hasn't meant to say-however, they're easy to say despite the weight they have. The confession to love isn't many steps above the confession to liking a person for him because he _loves_ all his friends and he's loved Kahiro as a _friend_ for longer than he's loved her romantically. Perhaps he doesn't even love her romantically really, at least not yet; maybe it's just him liking her a hell of a lot. Saying he loves her isn't far from the truth though and he's okay with thinking about her in that way.

Tsuna doesn't think about this though. Tsuna thinks about crawling into a hole and _dying_.

Kahiro stares at him with her lips parted and her pleased smile lost in the surprise of his sudden confession. He covers his mouth and looks down at the floor, flush creeping up his cheekbones. It's too late now to cover up his mistake, to laugh and say 'as a friend, I mean' or just act as though it were a casual thing to say for him. He knows she knows his words were sincere and this is the worst possible thing he could have ever said. Their precious friendship he clung to is going to be ruined all because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

The idea that he's confessed his feelings to her with such ease compared to the times he's been forced to act upon those he had towards Kyoko completely passes him by as he waits for the horrid silence to end.

"...I didn't know my pick up lines were _that_ good."

His eyes glance up to meet her's briefly and all of a sudden it seems stupid to hide his thoughts from the girl who he's shared so many thoughts with, secrets he hasn't entrusted with anyone else. "I'm an idiot." Tsuna declares hotly and looks away from her again. "It's going to be awkward from now on, isn't it?" His voice become quieter as he goes on and he steadies himself, ready for the blow of rejection.

Part of him reasons that it can't be worse than when Kyoko had ran away from him screaming whilst everyone laughed at him in his underpants. Another part reasons that this _is_ going to be worse because, beyond the fact that his feelings for Kahiro are different to his previous infatuation with the school idol, she's a dear friend that'll have to rip himself from his life.

"Well, if Gokudera and Yamamoto date then we'll have no third wheelers so I don't think it'll be that awkward…"

Tsuna snaps his head back in shock, the implication of her words slowly sinking in. "Third wheelers?" He whispers and Kahiro's cheeks, which he hadn't noticed had turned pink, get even redder, and there's slight panic in her features.

"To us? Unless you don't want to date, I mean I just _assumed-_ oh shit, am _I_ making things awkward?" She puts her hand on the back of her neck and looks towards the window. "Can I jump out of the window after all? I think it'll be more painless. To hell with survival."

He takes in a shuddering breath. "Do- do _you_ want to date?"

Kahiro's desire to jump out of the window then and there is incredibly obvious. "Um, well...yeah." She's never wanted more to have her hair down so she can hide behind it and make quiet distressed noises.

"...Oh."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, that is not an adequete response!" Kahiro complains, eyes bright and looking as though she's just been running everywhere.

"You're the one who just said something about a pick up line instead of a proper response!" Tsuna cries back, equally red.

"I was surprised okay?! I thought I was the one who liked _you_!" She makes a strangled noise, covering her face with her hands. "Tsunayoshi, this is all your fault I'm blaming you for all of this!"

"You said the pick up line!"

"It was a shitty pick up line!"

"But it made you look really cute!" Almost immediately, Tsuna found his hands covering his face too. "I didn't mean to say that!"

Laughter reaches his ears and he uncovers his face just as Kahiro bumps his shoulder with hers. Soon, he finds himself laughing too and they hug each other as their chuckling subsides. "You think I'm cute." She whispers.

"I think you're ridiculous." He mumbles into her neck.

"I am." She sighs. "That was more embarrassing than the time I accidentally caused a boy's trousers to fall down."

Tsuna snorts, barely restraining a snigger. "How on _earth_ did you manage that?"

"No, no, I've had enough mortification for today. That's a story for another time."

The both continue to stand with their arms around each other, stepping from side the side a little. "So, are we dating now?" The burning question finally leaves Tsuna's lips.

"I _suppose_ I have nothing better to do." She pulls back from him and the cheeky glint is back in her eyes.

" _Kahiro._ "

Her hand slips into his and she laughs again.

Tsuna wonders if it's possible to get drunk off pure air and her voice.

(He doesn't know Kahiro wonders the same thing about him.)


	58. Pattern

**Dude I love sixth form** _ **so**_ **much why did no one tell me it was this great I haven't been this happy in ages**

-Pattern-

The schedules for their daily lives change almost from the very moment that they put a label on their relationship.

It's subtle changes, after all, they already breathed each other's air and spent their time together whether it be in person or through their phones. And they still have their own lives outside each other; Kahiro has her athletic extra curricular clubs and Tsuna has the crazed existence of his family to take care of. But it's different all of the same.

Tsuna starts buying a drink in the morning to give to her after morning practice of whatever club she's partaking in. He's wanted to before but thought his noticing of her tinge of exhaustion and the way her voice rasps a little when they talk before class starts was something creepily observant. Now they're in the same boat, he does it with only a small pang of embarrassment.

Kahiro starts to do small hand massages throughout the day for him. It's not the pain reliever he really needs from the loud shouts and antics of his family and friends but it's designed to be a small comfort for him before he heads back knee deep into another argument. He adores them, loves them all to the core of his being, but Kahiro knows stress when she sees it and now they're dating, she can hold his hand without awkwardness.

Their messages start to have a proper pattern to themselves too. Usually, the first comes from Kahiro who texts about it being early and _why does she make herself do all these clubs anyway, it's hell_. Tsuna wakes up later and laughs at the pictures of distress Kahiro has taken, promising a reliever in the form of a drink. Then there's the questions of where on earth each other are during breaks followed by stupid, stupid pictures off the internet courtesy of Kahiro (it has always been like this at least). Later, questions of what she's doing after clubs and what he's doing with his family and more silly pictures. A definite good night comes last (sometimes followed by panicked messages in the middle of the night after nightmares on Tsuna's behalf).

Before their messages had no structure at all and the fact that they do now does something funny to Tsuna's stomach-like this has been set out to last for a long time.

The biggest change however is definitely how they introduce each other. No longer does Kahiro grab Tsuna by the arm when she's chatting to an acquaintance and dramatically declare 'this is my _close_ friend, Sawada Tsunayoshi' with great pride in her voice. Instead she yanks him by the hand and says 'this is my boyfriend, Tsunayoshi' with wonder in her eyes like she still can't quite believe he is that to her, fingers interlocked with his.

And no longer does he look over his shoulder and call her over with a shy smile, introducing her as 'my friend, Imada Kahiro' with awe in his tone that she's bounded over and wearing a bright grin. He tentatively pulls her a little closer and, face burning red, he explains that she is 'Kahiro, my girlfriend'. (Although it's only recently that he's actually had to introduce her to many people-practically the day they started dating it seemed that everyone wanted to visit and it's definitely Reborn's fault, it _always_ is).

All these new patterns to their days make Tsuna feel like an idiot in love (which he believes he technically is) and even Kahiro feels hopelessly soppy in her emotions.

But the patterns they take most notice of are the patterns of bumps on each other's hands, the small cuts and bruises Tsuna acquires on a daily basis, the tiny scars that Kahiro got from a rock-climbing session gone wrong, the toughness of his skin built up over hard training and fights, the length of her fingers, almost graceful in how long they are.

Holding hands becomes an instinctive movement and the time they spend with their fingers linked together is practically _ridiculous._ Although, not always romantic as Kahiro tends to make it into a game of mercy when no one is looking.

(She usually wins but a few times Tsuna has beaten her and made her fall over, walking away as if nothing has happened as she shouts through her laughter.)


	59. Gum

**I guess this is sorta set before the last chapter? Also all your reviews make me scream you're the cuties omfg**

 **This chapter goes waaaaaay off the prompt whoops**

-Gum-

Gokudera's the first one to know they're dating.

(Officially of course, unofficially it's obviously Reborn as he knows _everything._ Tsuna doesn't even bother announcing it to the arcobaleno, assuming correctly that he has all details about the embarrassing confession to use as future blackmail).

Kahiro doesn't mind that it's this way, nor does she mind that he leaves her at her doorstep after walking her back from school following their decision to date as so to go to the boy. She knows how important Gokudera is to him and how important he is to Gokudera and she knows she'll _never_ come in between that. They're stuck together with their deep friendship being the gum that makes it so they'll never fall apart. It's a crude way of putting it, she muses, but Tsuna's family isn't exactly of the _classy_ sort. They're a huge mess that has fallen into place somehow with the brunet at the epicentre, covered in awful, sticking gum but smiling in exasperation and fondness all the same.

She's a part of this family, she supposes, but Kahiro is also fully aware that she's slipped into this group quite slyly and her actions could make her look as though she's stealing Tsuna away. And she's not, she's honestly never anticipated that it would turn out this way. So she's more careful than ever to let everyone know this and show that she'd never take Tsuna away or limit the time he spends with his precious family, sending her new boyfriend off with a laugh and smile.

Tsuna slowly comes down from his high as he approaches Gokudera, still buzzing a little though from the rush of emotions that had accompanied his new relationship status (a _girlfriend,_ he's got a girlfriend and she goes by the name of Imada _Kahiro_ ). He'd initially thought to announce that he's dating Kahiro to both Yamamoto and Gokudera but that'd just seemed... _wrong_.

Not that Yamamoto isn't as close a friend as Gokudera is, they're both of equal importance to him and slightly above the rest of his friends, however, the silver haired boy is his right hand man. Yes, he doesn't like referring to him as that, he doesn't like how impersonal it sounds to call him by a mafia related title and not one of his dearest friends, but it's a title that means something to Gokudera himself. The boy prides himself in being his right hand man because it's the acknowledgement he's wanted for years and, even if Tsuna thinks that he doesn't need to cling to such a title to warrant acknowledgement, he'll let him have that if it's all he needs to be happy.

So, Tsuna needs to let Gokudera hear it from him first because he is someone so _dear_ and he is someone who is so _important_ in return to the boy. Yamamoto will understand being second to hear but Gokudera will feel hurt and Tsuna can't stand the idea of his friends hurting because of him.

The talk is somewhat brief. A few greeting lines (Gokudera's over the moon that his boss has called him out to chat about something and Tsuna briefly wonders why people are always so in awe of him when he's nothing to write home about) and then the brunet blurts it out with hardly any tact at all. It's slightly less embarrassing than his confession to Kahiro but he still wants to crawl into a hole and his face flushes as his friend stands there in silence. Then-

"I hope she realizes how lucky she is, that idiot laughing woman."

Tsuna lets out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding, seeing how Gokudera's lips were tugging up slightly. Because Gokudera doesn't hate her, doesn't completely _abhorre_ the idea of him and Kahiro dating, and he'd needed that approval. And it's true that Gokudera doesn't hate her-Kahiro, in all her teasing of the boy, is so irritatingly difficult to really dislike. She makes an effort to personally talk to him about subjects he likes and, when she looks at Tsuna as though he's something so beyond her reach, too _incredible_ to possibly be looking back, he knows she gets his boss. And that's all Gokudera really needs to begrudgingly let her skim the surface of a friendship with him and entrust a little piece of his boss to her.

Yamamoto of course allows for no tense atmosphere to arise when Tsuna later talks to him. His grins gets so wide it must be painful and he slings an arm around his friend's shoulders, giving him a big squeeze. It's less because he likes Kahiro (they'd hit off easily of course as they were social creatures at heart and had their passions they could talk about for hours), more because he can see Tsuna is practically giddy with happiness. He'd approve of anyone dating Tsuna as long as they made him look so overjoyed, whether he really got on with them as a friend or not, so the fact that Kahiro is someone who he can see himself hanging out with and just enjoying her company is a plus in his opinion

Kahiro can hear the relief in his voice when he later calls her, although she's humbled by Yamamoto and Gokudera's opinions of her-she'd thought they'd tolerated her, maybe got on with to an extent, but not that they genuinely liked her as a person. She's aware she's likeable, however, those two were different in her mind to everyone else, most likely because they saw what she saw in Tsuna and possibly so much more, and she'd thought that meant her usual techniques to find friendship in others wouldn't work.

Her boyfriend doesn't understand this though because Kahiro's so in love with everything that it's easy to find her charming and she's absolutely fascinating (he decides to ignore his bias towards her).

The next person to know officially is Lambo.

(Bianchi somehow _knows_ the minute he walks in the door that he's dating Kahiro, attributing it to her sensitivity to love somehow, and Fuuta sidles up to him with his ranking book clutched in his arms, whispering that he's got a list of the best places to take people out on dates.)

It's by accident that Tsuna tells him, the toddler asking over and over again that if it were Kahiro he was talking on the phone to earlier, and eventually the brunet snaps and says _yes, he was talking to his girlfriend, what of it_? Only afterwards does he realize what he has done and wants to scream into a pillow, face burning so red he was certain he needed a cold shower. Lambo is of course _highly_ amused and Tsuna swears that he hears Reborn poorly disguise snorts of laughter when _Lambo-sama_ offers to kindly give him some advice in the love department.

Ryohei gets the news the next day after running into Tsuna early in the morning (it's the first time Tsuna buys Kahiro a drink for after morning club practice and he feels almost ashamed in his soppiness). The slap he gets on the back and the loud 'Good one, Sawada' causes him actual physical pain, which Kahiro can't help but laugh at when he whines about it to her.

Then comes the hard ones.

He realizes he's been avoiding them when he sees them, justifying it by the idea that the closeness in their friendship wasn't enough so that he was obligated to tell them as soon as possible. A feeble excuse but, nonetheless, one he clings to in his guilt as he gets the urge to hold Kahiro's hand in reassurance for himself.

The whole gang has come out to hang out, Yamamoto and Gokudera on his left and right respectively and Kahiro close behind with Ryohei and the kids. Reborn is being carried by Bianchi although a slight distance away from them all, as if to allow the friendship group to interact without the imposing weight of the mafia on their shoulders. It's all just a gathering of friends and it's _fun_ and then _they_ arrive.

Dread pools in Tsuna's stomach and he can't think why he hasn't anticipated them attending this meet up too-they're _family_ after all. Kahiro's right by him, almost walks into him when he suddenly stops, and the idea of allowing her to spirit away this problem with a laugh is so tempting right now. But he doesn't because that wouldn't be fair, instead silently asking Yamamoto and Gokudera to subtly withdraw from his side.

"Tsuna-kun, good afternoon!"

"Tsuna-san! Haru hasn't seen you in _ages_!"

Both girls smile brightly at him, Haru briefly letting it slip to squawk at Gokudera when he mutters 'stupid woman' under his breath. Kyoko is as pretty as always and he can't exactly deny it despite the shift in his feelings towards her; she'll always be pretty in his eyes and kind and selfless. And Haru is as energetic as usual and somewhat charming in her looks and personality; she'll always be charming in his eyes because she honestly thought him an incredible human being.

Bianchi throws a greeting as she passes them, Ryohei a wide grin, the kids' excited waves and Reborn a knowing look in Tsuna's direction.

He wants to cringe.

"Kyoko!" Kahiro, who he can tell is aware of his awkwardness and is wanting to say something before a pause of silence emerges, beams as she steps towards the girl and she receives an equally friendly one in response. "I see you've been to that cake shop again. And without me, how could you?!" She mocks horror and the school idol laughs, cheeks tinging pink in slight embarrassment. It's the sound of tinkering bells, so different to Kahiro's loud, uncontrolled laughter.

"You like that cake shop too?!" Haru gasps in obvious delight, Kahiro turning to see her wide grin and questioning eyes.

"Of course I do. They sell _cake_." She makes it seem as though she is wholly impressed with the idea of people selling delicious food and, if it were just them, Tsuna would fight back his grin (losing horribly however) and reply 'the selling of cake is not a new invention, Kahiro'.

The brunette nods furiously, seeming to understand Kahiro on a level concerning food that Tsuna does not understand. " _Comrade_!" Haru declares with shining eyes, Kyoko glancing at her friend in fondness. "Miura Haru! So nice to meet you!"

"Imada Kahiro. Any lover of cake is a friend of mine!" She turns dramatically to Tsuna, surprising him but so comforting in a way he can't describe. Her face, so alight with amusement, is marred by how her eyes ask why his mood has changed so abruptly. "See the real reason I love food so much? Now you know the secret to my popularity, Tsunayoshi. Use it _wisely_."

His lips quirk up automatically and _god, she's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous._ He catches Haru's frown at his expression and remembers Reborn's knowing look: _you've got to tell them, you can't run away from them forever._ So, instead of regretting his decision to leave it too late, he steps closer to Kahiro and clears his throat. He speaks far more firmly than he thought he would. "Kahiro's my girlfriend."

Almost immediately, Kahiro sees the flicker of emotions in both Kyoko and Haru's eyes and the look on her boyfriend's face. Socially ept Kahiro can see what's happened as clear as day and she freezes up in utter horror at this realization accompanied with the fact that Tsuna only knew to an extent what his declaration means to the girls.

They both like him. Their feelings exist in the space between fondness and love and she can _see_ how part of their existence is crumbling away right in front of her, _because_ of her.

Kahiro's not used to hurting people. She'd rather make friends with everyone in the world than hurt a handful, rather let the hurt come to her than strike back against anyone who wrongs her. Of course, that's not to say the concept is _foreign_ to her. There are a few who have never been swayed by her friend-making nature and instead resent her for how easily physical activities come to her. There are a few who have trained in one area for years only to be beaten by her who is fit, so physically fit, but still has not put nearly as enough effort into one thing as anyone else.

But these are but a few and she knows she can absolve herself from too much crippling guilt with the idea that they will beat her and become so much better than her because she never sticks to anything for too long.

This is not something she can remove herself from.

Kyoko's first thought on the other hand upon the declaration that Kahiro is Tsuna's girlfriend is not on the matter of the possible romance with the boy she hadn't really known she'd desired being cut off, nor jealousy and dislike of the girl. Instead she thinks: _oh, she is kind._

There is no sarcasm in her thought, only genuine, sad fondness of Kahiro. Perhaps it is because she has suspected this being the case; rumours travel fast and, whilst Kahiro is known to have some sort physical contact with all of her friends, her and Tsuna reaching for each other's hands was a dead giveaway. On second thought, no, the shock of this announcement is real and hard to Kyoko and she has thought of Kahiro's kindness as a result of this.

She looks so horrified at the idea of hurting her and Haru that she can't see her as anything other than kind. Someone else might look upon them in pity or triumphance but Kahiro looks on only in crippling guilt she cannot wash away. Kyoko can't even imagine the idea of feeling bitterness to the girl as a result-not that Kyoko ever does like to hate people to their very core for any reason whatsoever. People might call her naive for hoping to see the good in everyone she meets but that's who she is as a person: so soft around the edges and without any discernable harshness.

"Oh." Is what Haru says. The girl seems dazed but at the same time incredibly aware of what has just happened. There are no tears, no screams, no snarls, just… _'oh'._

Unlike Kyoko, Haru does not know who Kahiro is. She does not know she has a passion for sports, does not know her favourite subject aside from PE is science, does not know that she is the darling of the social circle of Namimori Middle, does not know that she met Tsuna by stealing him away from his partner, does not that she messages Tsuna in the middle of the night to reassure him and keep his world steady.

She is a stranger.

And Haru has never considered the boy she likes falling for someone she's never met before.

It's a weird, heartbreaking sensation to realize that, beyond her chances with Tsuna being practically squashed right before her eyes, he has so much more to his life than she thought he did. That he's been getting to know this absolute stranger enough so that he would date them without her having an inkling of what was going on.

The feeling of... _insignificance_.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier." Tsuna cuts through the heavy air with an awkward mumble, wanting to really just bury his face in Kahiro's neck and whine at how much he's messed up. He looks Kyoko and Haru in the eyes in turn, trying to emphasise how it was his fault this was so awkward and especially to Haru. "I-I meant to but…"

"H-honestly Tsuna-san!" The brunette dramatically huffs but Kahiro can see her sagging shoulders. "Don't tell Haru that you told everyone else but not us! If Haru knew there would be a celebratory cake!"

" _Tsunayoshi, how could you deny me of this celebratory cake?!_ " Kahiro slaps his arm, eyes wide in mock horror and real terror ( _how could she hurt someone she's never met before this badly?)._

The boy gleefully takes the chance to tear his gaze away from the two girls and instead to his girlfriend who is without her trademark grin and a little pale but calming in her simple presence. " _Ow-_ I didn't know!"

She shakes her head. "You should always do things with expectancy of cake. It makes it even better when the cake actually exists as a reward."

Haru makes a loud noise of agreement and Kyoko's lips tug up into a smile. "We all blame you for this lack of more cake, Tsuna-san!" The brunette complains, also swatting him on the arm.

"Wha- _how is this fair_?!"

"Come, let us leave this cake-denying child." Places her hands behind Haru and Kyoko's back, she gently turns them around and forces them to continue walking on to catch up with the rest of the group. Both of the girls see her distressed eyes and the guilt rampant on her face and-

They can't help but smile reassuringly at her.

Because it's okay. It's not her fault. It's no one's fault.

And they want to get to know this new addition to this stuck together with gum family even if it hurts.

(Haru cries when she gets back home for a romance that never happened and then tucks her feelings away with a smile for her new friend. Kyoko never does cry but she writes in her diary that Tsuna has a girlfriend and Imada Kahiro is someone she couldn't ever hate.)


	60. Print

**Manga Tsuna is definitely my favourite Tsuna because he had so many sassy thoughts you couldn't hear in the anime omfg**

 **Also I didn't like this prompt so this is very short whoops**

-Print-

" _Hey sweetie!"_

Tsuna flushes up at Kahiro's teasing coo through his mobile, holding it up to his ear with his shoulder as he continues to search through his bookcase. "Sweetie? _Really?"_

" _What about honeykins? Sweetcheeks? Snookums?"_

"Snookums?" Tsuna repeats, just about forcing down his laughter whilst Kahiro lets it loose freely, sniggers travelling through his phone.

" _You just wish you could think of pet-names like me, babe."_

He snorts, almost dropping a book. "Sure, _honeybun._ "

" _Oh, sassing it up today are we, baby cakes?"_

Rolling his eyes (but still red all the same), he slides the book back into place. "Can you check whether my chemistry book is at yours? I can't find it anywhere."

"Okay, one sec-" There is a loud thump and Tsuna winces, already certain that Kahiro had rolled off her bed again without thinking. He then catches sight of another book on his shelf and frowned, reaching up to slide it out. "Yeah, I found it." Kahiro's voice returns. "I also found about five of your hoodies but I hope you realize you're not getting them back, _pudding_."

"Well, I found your physics book, _buttercup._ "

His girlfriend makes an indignant noise through the phone as Tsuna switches his attention to under his bed, lips quirking up into a smile at the sight of a pair of trainers that definitely did not belong to him. All around the room in fact lay stuff that had been left behind, slowly amassing until it was normal now to assume that if something could not be found, it was probably at his. The same could be said for his stuff too, his prints left all over Kahiro's house in the form of belongings.

Somehow, the idea left a fuzzy feeling in his stomach and he felt ridiculously sappy about it, although fully aware that Kahiro faced the same reaction to this as well.

" _Okay, I'll bargain with you. Two hoodies and your chemistry book for the physics book, treasure."_

"Just buy your own hoodies and stop stealing mine, _precious._ "

"Come on, you know I'm lazy and none of my hoodies have pockets like yours, _sexy_."

" _Kahiro!_ "


	61. Boat

**I was gonna make this longer but nah** **¯\\_(** **ツ** **)_/¯**

-Boat-

Tsuna's cheek presses into Kahiro's shoulder in such a manner that his hair brushes her neck, eyes glued to the laptop balanced on the end of the girl's legs. The pizza box is positioned next to her, this having come about after a long fight where Kahiro had insistently claimed she needed to sate her hunger before she killed him and committed cannibalisation. "You're ridiculous." He huffs for the billionth time, the girl grinning and patting him haphazardly on the forehead without looking.

"You _luurrrve_ me."

"You say that…" He trails off, lips twitching a little.

Kahiro makes an offended noise. "You _literally_ say that. Oh snap, look, it's the moment of truth!"

The boy turns his attention back onto the screen long enough to see the two main characters stand at the front of the ship, one stretching out their arms and ready to say their famous lines. Before they can, Kahiro grabs him around the waist making him yelp, twisting their bodies slightly. " _Roooseee_ , _you're flyingggg_!"

" _Kahiro, get off me!_ "

"That is not the line. Well, mine wasn't the line either but close enough." She laughs, mouth right next to his ear as she does so.

Tsuna burns red immediately to his irritation as her arms withdraw from his waist to, predictably, grab more pizza. A thought then hits him. "Well, if I'm Rose then I get to live."

His girlfriend makes another noise of offence, placing her hand to her heart. "Excuse you, I am the _gorgeous_ Leonardo di Caprio, bite me!"

"Sorry, I'm not Hibari-san." His straight face makes Kahiro almost choke on her pizza, coughing for a few minutes as her laughter tries to escape her throat. This only serves to make him snigger too and soon they're using each other as support so they don't just fall onto the floor giggling.

Eventually, the laughter subsides and they both return their attention to the film again. Alas, only briefly as Kahiro leans her back against Tsuna's chest, the two having gone back to their default position of comfort. "...Do you think that Hibari is just kinky or what then?"

"Oh my god, _Kahiro._ " Tsuna then pauses. "...He did have handcuffs at one point though."

" _I knew it."_ She declares, laughter bright as the brunet tries to hush her, unable to not want to laugh with her again.


	62. Ripe

**urgh sorry this took so long I was dying (still am hahaha…)**

 **also its not that good oops**

-Ripe-

Kahiro leans her cheek on Tsuna's shoulder, her hair still in a ponytail and rugby boots on her feet. A streak of mud is already dried on her top and the top of her knee, which was an angry red beforehand, has mellowed out to a softer pink. "Man, I used to be better at rugby, I swear." She eventually says, Tsuna glancing down at her with a bitten lip. Their school had played at another tournament, Kahiro of course invited as one of the team, and they had won! Except…

Usually her matches were pleasing to watch. Graceful. A smile on her lips the entire time. But this wasn't one of those matches. She'd struggled to do well. She hadn't found it fun. Kahiro hadn't been the worst player on the field, not by a long shot, but her athletic prowess that every sports club used her for hadn't come into it's own like it normally did.

Tsuna found it painful to watch.

"You weren't that bad." He tells her, biting back the words of 'that was awful'.

She laughs lightly but he can feel the guilt in her gaze. "Maybe I should practice more."

He wants to wince. Kahiro's thing is that she _doesn't_ dedicate her time to practicing tirelessly at one sport. Her thing is that she does everything and _loves_ it.

"Honestly, I really did use to be better. But, you know what they say, early to ripe, early to rotten." She shrugs carelessly, hair slipping over her shoulder.

"Don't say that." Tsuna whispers, leaning his head a little on hers. "You won, didn't you?"

Kahiro sighs. "But it's not about the winning, is it?" Her medal hangs around her neck, glinting coldly in the light. "Tsunayoshi, what am I even going to do when I grow up? I can't just play sports casually forever. And, even if I do pick something, it's not as though I can prioritize _fun_ over _winning_."

"You could always become a PE teacher." He mumbles, not knowing what exactly to say. "You don't ever have to think about winning if you do that. Just fun. Well, sort of."

A short, burst of laughter escapes Kahiro's throat and she straightens to look at him with a sparkle her eyes. "A _PE_ teacher."

"It's not that bad an idea…" He frowns defensively as Kahiro finds his hand and interlocks her fingers with his.

"No, no, I mean-" She cuts off, laughing again, and Tsuna feels his muscles relax as the stress rolls visibly off the girl, the dark cloud of misery finally moving away. "You're thoughtful, Tsunayoshi. You just thought of a way for me to not focus on winning just like that. Granted though, it was a _terrible_ idea." A snigger escapes her lips. "Trusting me with children as a responsible adult? Come _on._ "

"...Good point." He leans into her again, trying to forget the burning of his cheeks at the girl's effortless display of awe towards him.


	63. Kiss

**Oh man, these kids and their PDA I cannot beLIEVE**

 **Also I'm sorry for the late update, I had this all done and forgot to do anything about it whoops**

-Kiss-

Tsuna blinks as he approaches their meeting spot, not having expected there to be two people instead of one waiting there. Kahiro is sat on the railings as a boy around their age chats to her, wearing a uniform from another school. The girl immediately notices him and waves him over, eyes bright with glee when he sidles in next to her. "Hey." She's smiling and her fingers automatically interlock with his whilst he tries not to look at the unknown blonde teenager too much out of curiosity.

"Hey." He somewhat breathes out the greeting, lips quirking into a smile.

Kahiro eases herself off of the railing, shoulder brushing against his arm as she turns to face the other boy. "This is Tsunayoshi."

The newcomer cocks an eyebrow, realization flashing through his eyes. "Oh, your boyfriend then? Hiro told me about you! I'm Takiro." He offers a hand to the brunet, Tsuna taking it without much hesitance for once. After all, he trusts Kahiro's judgement of people and, by the way she seems to be genuinely invested in introducing the two of them, he concludes that they must be good friends.

Kahiro then grips his hand a little tighter and looks sideways at him, eyes still bright but slightly dulled by how she's now paying close attention to his reactions. "Well, we should probably get the awkward facts out the way first." She smiles a little crookedly, Takiro rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as Tsuna looks at his girlfriend in confusion.

"Yeah, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time…" The other boy mutters, shuddering a little.

Kahiro also shudders before glancing at her boyfriend again. "Takiro's kinda...my ex."

 _...Oh._

Suddenly, Tsuna sees Takiro in a different light. His blonde hair is styled fashionably, he's tall, he clearly does some sort of sport, he's got confidence, he-

His girlfriend gives his hand another squeeze, Takiro laughing nervously. "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal Hiro away! It's just that my _girlfriend_ had this whole phase of really not liking Hiro because we're good friends and we didn't tell her outright that we used to date so it got…"

"Really messy." Kahiro finishes, pulling a face. "I still don't know why we dated."

"So cold!" The blonde puts a hand to his heart in mock offence and Tsuna can practically see the similarities between the two. His head is still spinning a little from the announcement and he's trying not to stare at Takiro and continue to tick off his good points. _Easy to talk with, understands her sense of humour, is popular-_

"Anyway, I've got to go meet up with said girlfriend. Training for mixed doubles on Thursday, yeah?"

"I'll message you if not." Kahiro sends him off with a funny face, Takiro responding with his own stupid expression as he dashes off. Then, after a few moments of silence, she turns to face the brunet. "Was that too out of the blue?"

Tsuna stares down at her, trying to form words in his mouth. "...A bit sudden, yeah."

"Damn it, I knew I should've made him run to his girlfriend instead." She curses, fingers still tangled with his. "He ambushed me and demanded he see who you were because I only ever sent him pictures of fishes and dinosaurs when he asked about you."

The spinning in Tsuna's head slows down just a little. "You talked to him about me?"

She rolls her eyes dramatically and jabs him lightly in the chest. "Course I did. Why wouldn't I?" Her eyes then meet his. "...Should've I not told you about Takiro?"

"No, no- I'm glad you told me!" The brunet replies a little too harshly, a little too quickly, and his fingers grip onto hers a little tighter. He doesn't understand why this is affecting him this badly. If he'd just given it enough thought then _of course_ Kahiro would've dated someone before. She was popular and attractive and so _likeable_ that it was obvious she'd still be on good terms with her ex even after their break up. Yet the bitter burn of jealousy smoulders in his mouth and the idea that, whilst Kahiro is his first girlfriend, he isn't her first boyfriend.

She's experienced this all before, the light headed soppiness, the whispers with bowed heads, the comforting feeling of your hand in someone else's; she's familiar with them all whilst to him it's new and breathtaking.

She's had it all with _someone else._

"We dated before middle school, y'know." Kahiro speaks softly, still scanning his face. "Not for long. A couple of months at the most."

"...Did you like him?" The questions tumbles hesitantly from his mouth, not knowing whether it was appropriate to ask or _why it even mattered._

Kahiro shrugs, not seeming bothered by the question. "I liked the idea of dating more than I actually liked Takiro and it was kinda the same for him. It got to the point that the initial excitement wore off and we just found doing things more awkward."

"Things?" The knot in his throat twisted.

"Like waiting for each other after class, messaging each other, hand holding, the stuff you are _far_ better at." She flashed a grin, fingers twisting so they grazed the back of his hand.

"Did you go on many dates?"

"A few but we realized afterwards they were more hanging out with friends types of things."

A final question leaves his lips. "Did you kiss him?"

Kahiro looks him in the eyes. "Yes." Her answer is clear and unapologetic.

"Oh." He doesn't know what else to say. _Oh._ His gaze lingers briefly on Kahiro's lips and he flushes involuntarily, a mixture of stabbing jealousy and upset and other complicated feelings swirling uncomfortably in his head.

"...Do you want to kiss me?" Her voice is quiet and cheeks redder than before, standing close to Tsuna as per usual-but their conversation has made him more aware of this.

"Do you?" Tsuna replies in his own hushed tone, hearing the blood rushing in his ears.

Her free hand slowly slides up his arm and along the curve of his shoulder, resting on the back of his neck. It's not as though they haven't ended up in this position before-Kahiro is not always the best observer of personal space-but he can feel the hesitation in her fingers pressed against his skin. He moves his own hands automatically, untangling one from hers to place them around her middle like he does when he hugs her. There's a moment where they stare at each other, slightly wide eyed and feeling the thrum of adrenaline kick in, then Kahiro leans up and presses her mouth to his.

His eyes shut and he swears she can feel his heartbeat through his lips-or is that her's he feels? Suddenly, the Kahiro's hand of his neck feels hot and her mouth on his even hotter and-

Kahiro gently pulls away and Tsuna opens his eyes to see her inches away from his face, her eyes bright and wisps of hair brushing against his cheek. Her free hand traces the outline of his jaw and Tsuna swears his breathing is louder than before as she rests it underneath his ear. A burst of unnatural confidence then takes ahold of him. "Was that how you kissed him?" He whispers, not quite knowing why they are being so quiet.

"I don't remember." Her breath fans across his lips.

And Tsuna, despite knowing there is no logical reason to hate Takiro, nor feel the need to replace all of Kahiro's memories of her ex with himself, can't help but say 'good' before their lips press against each other again.


	64. Pipe

**Sorta a second part to kiss? Who knows? I don't but probably should? Whoops?**

 **Also SUPER LATE I'M SO SORRY I JUST HAD NO INSPIRATION UGH**

-Pipe-

He's a mess.

The minute he gets home he can practically _feel_ the muscles in his legs giving up underneath him and he has to half drag himself up the stairs in order to get to the sweet salvation of his bed.

 _He'd kissed Kahiro._

 _Not only once though, oh no,_ Tsuna thinks, feeling the rush of embarrassment he probably should have felt at the time creep through his veins. They'd kissed until they'd heard a passerby whistle and ask _when the wedding was._

Tsuna traces the outline of his jaw absentmindedly, remembering how Kahiro had done the same before running her fingers up the back of his neck and pressing her lips against his again. Oh god, he feels too soppy and lightheaded but the memories cause him not to _care-_

"So you finally kissed her, no-good Tsuna?"

He sits up with a start, face red and eyes bright as Reborn looks up at him, a slight smirk gracing his lips. A splutter leaves Tsuna's mouth and the start to a question he already knows the answer to- _Reborn always knows what is going on, why are you acting so surprised-_ but he's cut off.

"She kissed you first though." The arcobaleno shakes his head as if this fact disappoints him.

"W-what does that matter?" He half squeaks, clutching fistfulls of duvet in his hands.

"A mafia boss should be more suave and make their partner swoon by making the first move." Reborn recites as if this is well-known knowledge.

With a groan of embarrassment mixed with exasperation, Tsuna flops back down onto his bed. Even with the infant's biting words though, he can't stop the aching smile that spreads across his lips.

It had been a pipe dream.

He's thought about kissing a girl before, sure, but always assumed that he'd be the only person in the world who would die without doing so. Kisses were for people in a relationship and _no-good_ Tsuna being in a relationship? Nuh uh. No way. Absolutely not.

Reborn watches as his student hugs a pillow with a giddy grin on his face, clicking his tongue.

 _Lovesick teenger._


	65. Pollution

**Whoa I did not expect so many people to immediately read that last chapter as soon as I'd posted it hot dayum**

-Pollution-

Their relationship initially filled with innocent hand holding and red, flushed faces swings dramatically in a different direction.

They'd been intimate before of course in the way they'd spoken, voices lowered to whispers and eyes only on each other. But the physical intimacy that comes with them being teenagers that are _sure_ they're head over heels for each other is on a completely separate level.

Words spoken like secrets become the light touch of fingertips tracing circles on necks when they kiss. Indescribable affection is passed by their lips pressing against each other gently, roughly. Reassurance is there when they draw back and their faces are still close, feeling their breath on their skin and eyes locked.

The shyness and embarrassment that at first takes a hold of Tsuna melts away fast. There isn't a reason to go bright red when leaning in to kiss her; it's not a stranger he's pressing his lips too after all, it's just _Kahiro._ She on the other hand gets over the blushing even quicker not because physical intimacy isn't new to her but because being by Tsuna is the least uncomfortable place for her to be. The girl is fairly touchy feely in nature anyway so what more was a kiss to the one she liked than a hug?

( _A lot more,_ she know of course, _a whole lot more.)_

After that hurdle is leapt over, kissing Kahiro is no longer just something that makes butterflies erupt in Tsuna's stomach. There's this desperation instead that he supposes his girlfriend must share because suddenly they're sneaking off to make out behind the bike shed like the lovestruck teens Tsuna never imagined himself being.

It's like a dangerous drug polluting his lungs and mind. But he's already addicted to her laugh so why stop there?


	66. Secret

**Late update whoops**

 **And reminder for end of this chapter that Tsuna wants to keep Kahiro as far as he can from the mafia :)**

-Secret-

The fact Sawada Tsunayoshi, future Vongola Decimo, has a girlfriend is probably the worst kept secret of all time.

Not even a week into their relationship, Dino turns up with a big, proud grin, drying his eyes as he remarks on how his 'lil' bro is all grown up and already a ladies man'. Byakuran drops by a few days later, equally unannounced and a hundred times more patronizing about the whole affair. Chrome relays a message from Mukuro about him being a typical, hormonal teeanger.

(To which Tsuna, who has decidedly had enough of this all, shoots back that at least he _has_ a girlfriend whereas the illusionist can't even untangle his own relationship with the only girl who'll ever be interested in him. Chrome leaves with a huge blush and Mukuro sends him several death threats.)

Hell, even _Hibari_ knows he's dating someone, using 'indecent actions during school hours' as an excuse to fight him! And then there was that _disturbing_ letter of congratulations from the Varia that he ripped up and thrown away to wipe from his memory.

Enough was enough when Iemitsu phoned his son to give him 'the talk' now he had a girlfriend, Tsuna immediately hanging up and demanding Reborn _stop telling everyone._

Of course, the arcobaleno does no such thing, however, there is one detail left out of the information he spreads that Tsuna only notices when everyone congratulating him all ask the same question. He almost chokes on his thanks when he discovers this, Reborn naturally feigning ignorance at his one act of goodwill.

Because, if the fact Tsuna has a girlfriend is the worst kept secret, then the identity of his girlfriend being that of Imada Kahiro is the best kept secret.


	67. Lie

**Ah and here we see the hormonal teenagers needing to get a god damn room yet again**

 **And yes. Say exactly that Kahiro. It's perfect.**

-Lie-

Tsuna wonders whether he should feel bad for doing this when he slips behind the wall surrounding the school pool again and dips his head down to meet Kahiro's lips. Granted, it's hard to feel particularly guilty when he's got his girlfriend pressing flush against him and smiling unapologetically into their kisses, but the thought crosses his mind regardless.

They're doing this a lot, sneaking off to have giggly make outs after offering some pathetic excuses to their friends as to why they have to leave together. This time they spun some lie about helping with some sports committee meeting, one of their better excuses although ruined by how Yamamoto would've known if there actually was one considering he was a prominent member of the baseball team.

That and the fact Gokudera didn't demand to help out also like he would have usually done. And, with how oblivious the bomber could be, the couple had to have been disgustingly obvious in what they really intended to do.

Kahiro's laughter draws him completely out of the guilt, face flushed slightly - from pure happiness and joy, not embarrassment - and thumbs gently drawing circles into his cheeks as she cradles his face. Her hair is as messy as usual, although he takes some pride in that she was more composed in image before he'd started kissing her. It's an electrifying, warm feeling, that he can affect her like this. "What you thinking about, _lover boy_?" She draws out the pet name with a grin and winks.

"Sports committee meeting."

More laughter, uncontrolled and so decidedly _Kahiro_ that he pecks her on the lips. He doesn't remember ever having imagined himself being so forward with Kyoko when he'd crushed so helplessly on her, but with Kahiro it comes naturally. He's too comfortable with her to care that this should be embarrassing, that he's not meant to be this confident person, that he's kissing the most popular girl in school.

"Not my finest moment." She concedes, breath fanning across his lips. "So, next time should I just say 'Tsunayoshi and I are leaving to snog and you're not invited'?"

Tsuna decides as Kahiro draws him closer again that perhaps lying isn't so bad after all.


	68. Camouflage

**Sometimes I look at this fic and remember that this is my first time writing a fluffy and romantic thing altogether and I cannot belie v e**

-Camouflage-

Kahiro's been the centre of attention ever since she can remember.

As a young child she was flashy in that she didn't adhere to the usual division of boys and girls and showed up people in sports regardless of gender. The rest of the children are still bright and confident (because at one point even _Tsuna_ , with all his self-confessed social anxiety and shyness, grinned childishly without fear into the face of embarrassment), but she stands out with the medals and trophies she cares less about than the memories leading up to the moment of her victory.

Then, as her peers learn fear of social gaffs and burning blushes of humiliation, she instead learns nothing of it and barely feels the weight of the social nuances others handle awkwardly, and people watch her with awe and admiration because of it. Admiration that turns to crushes when her hair grows out long and she laughs so honestly, although it's hard to tell whether her popularity in that area comes from genuine, physical beauty and perceived attractive personality or the blurred line between the desire for her friendship and romantic feelings - the latter at the very least is why her first relationship ends and Kahiro's never sure as to if the question should trouble her so she doesn't allow herself the time to mull over it.

She's never known anything different, growing up with the illumination of the spotlight that draws the gazes of people to her. Never minded it because that was the way it was: Kahiro placed centre stage and the theatre for her audience filled to burst.

So when the light is finally swung away from her and onto the boy named Sawada Tsunayoshi, she only notices then that the glare from the bright lamp is blinding, makes her hot and sweaty, exhausts her to the point of confusing periods of _sadness_ she's made herself ignore because her audience doesn't want to see that, they want to see her smiles.

It's why Kahiro, the centre of attention since as long as she can remember, doesn't mind how the spotlight Tsuna draws to himself practically camouflages her. Because it's in those few moments of reprieve she can finally breathe again.


	69. Rain

**Dumb teenagers and their dumb romance is what I should call this fic lmao**

 **-Rain-**

He should've expected it.

It's him after all, Sawada Tsunayoshi, the teenage boy with possibly the worst luck out of anyone _ever_ to walk the planet. He's been saddled with baby hitmen, crazy school prefects, assassins that want his head on a silver platter, so he should've damn expected it.

It had started off okay, which was perhaps why he'd been lulled into a false sense of security. The perfect scene: rain, bucketing it down. Kahiro, without umbrella. Her even valiant knight of a boyfriend Tsuna _with_ umbrella. His two friends in detention, unable to interfere. They'd even managed to set off from school underneath the fabled 'lovers umbrella' together, like a scene ripped from the cheesiest romance ever written.

That is when the lorry goes roaring through a huge puddle on the side of the road and laughs at the meager protection from the elements that is his umbrella.

There's a few seconds of stillness where Tsuna and Kahiro try to comprehend what has just happened, clothes soaked all the way through and blinking away the water that had flown into their eyes. Then, Kahiro turns, and Tsuna feels as though he should've expected this too because he knows his girlfriend infuriatingly well, familiar smile edging onto her lips.

"Well then, we aren't getting any wetter I suppose."

And she grabs the umbrella and runs.

He takes a moment of spluttering confusion before giving chase after the cackling Kahiro and suddenly they're racing through the streets of Namimori, dodging through the pockets of people who are staring at these two grinning, soaked teenagers as if they're mad. Tsuna thinks he would wonder the same thing if he was one of the onlookers but he's not, he's running so fast he's in danger of slipping and she's laughing so much it has to hurt her sides and it's just fun _._

Just stupid, silly _fun_.

Eventually, he catches up to her in the middle of one of the parks and Kahiro turns on him with his umbrella wielded in her hand like some kind of sword. " _Have at ye_!" She cries with a huge grin, smacking Tsuna lightly on the head a couple of times as he shouts through his laughter for her to stop, grabbing it the third and wrestling it out of her grip.

Kahiro then flings her arms around his neck dramatically and kisses him hard on the lips only for it to soften and be broken off because they're both laughing and it turns out kissing in the rain isn't nearly as romantic as it is awkward with water being hurled at their faces.


End file.
